title: Determination of clozapine, and five antidepressants in human plasma, serum and whole blood by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry: A simple tool for clinical and postmortem toxicological analysis.
abstract: In this study, we describe a simple and rapid method for the determination of the antipsychotic drug clozapine and five commonly co-administered antidepressants - bupropion, mirtazapine, sertraline, clomipramine and citalopram - in serum, plasma and whole blood. Sample preparation includes solid phase extraction of analytes and determination of drug concentrations by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry without any derivatization steps. The method was fully validated according to international criteria and can be successfully applied for routine analyses. Correlation coefficients of calibration curves for the tested drugs in the three specimens were in the range 0.9977-0.9999. Intra-day and inter-day precisions ranged from 0.81-7.85% and 3.60-12.91% respectively for the studied analytes and matrices. Recoveries were satisfactory for different concentrations of each drug in each specimen allowing accurate determinations in the range from sub-therapeutic to toxic levels. The presented method shows acceptable sensitivity, linearity in wide concentration ranges (sub-therapeutic, therapeutic, supra-therapeutic/toxic levels), it is simple and rapid and it is applicable for qualitative and quantitative routine toxicological analyses of clinical and postmortem cases.
authors: Laboratory of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, Faculty of Medicine, School of Health Sciences, University of Ioannina, 45110 Ioannina, Greece. Electronic address: vboumba@uoi.gr.
authors: Vassiliki A
authors: VA
authors: Boumba
authors: Laboratory of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, Faculty of Medicine, School of Health Sciences, University of Ioannina, 45110 Ioannina, Greece.
authors: George
authors: G
authors: Rallis
authors: Psychiatric Clinic, University Hospital of Ioannina, 45110 Ioannina, Greece.
authors: Petros
authors: P
authors: Petrikis
authors: Laboratory of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, Faculty of Medicine, School of Health Sciences, University of Ioannina, 45110 Ioannina, Greece.
authors: Theodore
authors: T
authors: Vougiouklakis
authors: Psychiatric Clinic, University Hospital of Ioannina, 45110 Ioannina, Greece.
authors: Venetsanos
authors: V
authors: Mavreas
mesh_terms: D000928:Antidepressive Agents / Q000097:blood* / Q000633:toxicity; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000097:blood* / Q000633:toxicity; D003024:Clozapine / Q000097:blood* / Q000633:toxicity; D003933:Diagnosis; D064420:Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D057230:Limit of Detection; D015813:Substance Abuse Detection / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D000928:Antidepressive Agents; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents; D003024:Clozapine
keywords: Antidepressants; Autopsy; Clozapine; GC–MS; Monitoring