title: Identification and quantification of psychoactive drugs in whole blood using dried blood spot (DBS) by ultra-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry.
abstract: A procedure based on ultra-high-pressure liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry has been developed for the determination of twenty three psychoactive drugs and metabolites in whole blood using dried blood spot (DBS). Chromatographic separation was achieved at ambient temperature using a reverse-phase column and a linear gradient elution with two solvents: 0.1% formic acid in acetonitrile and 5mM ammonium formate at pH 3. The mass spectrometer was operated in positive ion mode, using multiple reaction monitoring via positive electro-spray ionization. The method was linear from the limit of quantification (5ng/ml for all the analytes apart from 15ng/ml for Δ-9-tetrahydrocannabinol and metabolites) to 500ng/ml, and showed good correlation coefficients (r(2)=0.990) for all substances. Analytical recovery of analytes under investigation was always higher than 75% and intra-assay and inter-assay precision and accuracy always better than 15%. Using the validated method, ten DBS samples, collected at the hospital emergency department in cases of acute drug intoxication, were found positive to one or more psychoactive drugs. Our data support the potential of DBS sampling for non invasive monitoring of exposure/intoxication to psychoactive drugs.
authors.affiliation: Unit of Forensic Toxicology (UoFT), Department of Anatomical, Histological, Forensic and Orthopedic Sciences, Sapienza University of Rome, Viale Regina Elena 336, 00185 Rome, Italy. Electronic address: christallakyriacou@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Chrystalla
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kyriakou
authors.affiliation: Department of Therapeutic Research and Medicines Evaluation, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, V.le Regina Elena 299, 00161, Rome, Italy. Electronic address: emilia.marchei@iss.it.
authors.forename: Emilia
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Marchei
authors.affiliation: ART Italian National Register, National Centre for Epidemiology, Surveillance and Health Promotion, National Health Institute, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, V.le Regina Elena 299, 00161, Rome, Italy. Electronic address: giulia.scaravelli@iss.it.
authors.forename: Giulia
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Scaravelli
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Hospital del Mar, 08003 Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address: OGarciaA@parcdesalutmar.cat.
authors.forename: Oscar
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: García-Algar
authors.affiliation: Emergency Department, Hospital del Mar, 08003 Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address: Asupervia@parcdesalutmar.cat.
authors.forename: August
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Supervía
authors.affiliation: Department of Therapeutic Research and Medicines Evaluation, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, V.le Regina Elena 299, 00161, Rome, Italy. Electronic address: silviagrzn@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Graziano
mesh_terms: D002187:Cannabinol / Q000097:blood / Q000737:chemistry; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid / Q000379:methods; D059788:Dried Blood Spot Testing / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D011619:Psychotropic Drugs / Q000097:blood* / Q000737:chemistry*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D053719:Tandem Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D011619:Psychotropic Drugs; D002187:Cannabinol
keywords: DBS; Dried blood spots; Psychoactive drugs; Ultra-high-pressure liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry