Determination of benzodiazepines in blood and in dried blood spots collected from post ‐mortem samples and evaluation of the stability over a three‐month period

We successfully developed and validated an LC –MS/MS method for the identification of 27 and quantification of 9 benzodiazepines and metabolites in whole blood and DBSs. The results provided a good qualitative and quantitative correlation between DBSs stored at room temperature and whole blood stored at −20°C. A good stability for a three‐ month period was observed for most of the compounds detected in real post‐mortem samples. AbstractThe aims of this study were (a) to develop a liquid chromatography −tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) method for the identification of 27 benzodiazepines and metabolites in dried blood spots (DBSs) and in whole blood; (b) to compare the diagnostic reliability of DBSs with blood analyses; and c) to monitor analytes stability on DBSs within a three‐month peri od. Aliquots of 85 μL of blood from post‐mortem cases were pipetted on cards for DBS analysis. We also collected a tube of blood and stored it at − 20°C. The cards were allowed to dry at room temperature. For each case, DBSs were analyzed immediately (T0), within the following 3 weeks (T1, T2, T3) and after 3 months (T4). The method was applied to 60 post‐mortem cases. A screening procedure was applied to all 27 molecules, while the method was fully validated for the 9 molecules detected in real samples. Limits of detection (LODs) and limits of quantification (LOQs) were in the ra nge 0.1–50.0 ng/mL and 5.0–100.0 ng/mL, respectively. Nine analytes were det...
Source: Drug Testing and Analysis - Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Tags: RESEARCH ARTICLE Source Type: research