title: Antidepressants detection and quantification in whole blood samples by GC-MS/MS, for forensic purposes.
abstract: Depression is among the most prevalent psychiatric disorders of our society, leading to an increase in antidepressant drug consumption that needs to be accurately determined in whole blood samples in Forensic Toxicology Laboratories. For this purpose, this work presents a new gas chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS) method targeting the simultaneous and rapid determination of 14 common Antidepressants in whole blood: 13 Antidepressants (amitriptyline, citalopram, clomipramine, dothiepin, fluoxetine, imipramine, mianserin, mirtazapine, nortryptiline, paroxetine, sertraline, trimipramine and venlafaxine) and 1 Metabolite (N-desmethylclomipramine). Solid-phase extraction was used prior to chromatographic separation. Chromatographic and MS/MS parameters were selected to improve sensitivity, peak resolution and unequivocal identification of the eluted analyte. The detection was performed on a triple quadrupole tandem MS in selected ion monitoring (SIM) mode in tandem, using electronic impact ionization. Clomipramine-D3 and trimipramine-D3 were used as deutered internal standards. The validation parameters included linearity, limits of detection, lower limit of quantification, selectivity/specificity, extraction efficiency, carry-over, precision and robustness, and followed internationally accepted guidelines. Limits of quantification and detection were lower than therapeutic and sub-therapeutic concentration ranges. Overall, the method offered good selectivity, robustness and quick response (<16min) for typical concentration ranges, both for therapeutic and lethal levels.
authors.affiliation: Forensic Chemistry and Toxicology Service-National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences, Portugal; BioMark, Sensor Research/ISEP, Superior Institute of Engineering of Porto, Portugal. Electronic address: lilianatruta@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Liliana
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Truta
authors.affiliation: Forensic Chemistry and Toxicology Service-National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences, Portugal. Electronic address: andre.castro@inml.mj.pt.
authors.forename: André L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Castro
authors.affiliation: Forensic Chemistry and Toxicology Service-National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences, Portugal. Electronic address: sonia.tarelho@inml.mj.pt.
authors.forename: Sónia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tarelho
authors.affiliation: Forensic Chemistry and Toxicology Service-National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences, Portugal. Electronic address: pcosta@inml.mj.pt.
authors.forename: Pedro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Costa
authors.affiliation: BioMark, Sensor Research/ISEP, Superior Institute of Engineering of Porto, Portugal. Electronic address: goreti.sales@gmail.com.
authors.forename: M Goreti F
authors.initials: MGF
authors.lastname: Sales
authors.affiliation: Forensic Chemistry and Toxicology Service-National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences, Portugal; Medicine Faculty, University of Coimbra, Portugal; Medicine Faculty, University of Porto, Portugal. Electronic address: helena.m.teixeira@inmlcf.mj.pt.
authors.forename: Helena M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Teixeira
mesh_terms: D000928:Antidepressive Agents / Q000097:blood*; D002849:Chromatography, Gas / Q000379:methods*; D053593:Forensic Toxicology / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D057230:Limit of Detection; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D052616:Solid Phase Extraction; D053719:Tandem Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D000928:Antidepressive Agents
keywords: Antidepressants; Forensic toxicology; GC–MS/MS; Solid-phase extraction; Whole blood