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Conclusion
The use of a simple rapid acetonitrile work-up followed by
a TurboFlow method (online extraction and chromatography)
on the Thermo Scientific Transcend TLX-1 system with
tandem MS/MS allowed the specific and sensitive analysis of
various common opiates and their metabolites from a small
volume of whole blood. Moreover, a limited portion of
the acetonitrile extract volume was utilized in the analysis,
thus, the method presents potential to scale down to a
volume of blood achievable from a finger prick (5–10 µL).
The calibration curves for all analytes analyzed were
linear over the concentration range and carryover was
calculated at less than 1% for all analytes. Since the
method is ~ 4 minutes, 15 samples per hour may be
completed, or indeed, doubled/quadrupled with the
use of multiplexing. Significant time is saved in the
absence of SPE sample preparation.
The method enables the forensic toxicologist to produce
a full picture of the opiates and metabolites in blood to assist
with the determination of time of injection (presence of
6-MAM) and the detection of M3G and M6G to determine
prior use or accumulation following heavy use.
References and Acknowledgements
1. Morgan O, Griffiths C, Toson B, Rooney C, Majeed A, Hickman M.
Trends in deaths related to drug misuse in England and Wales, 1993-2004.
Health Statistics Quarterly 2006; 31: 23-7.
2. Therapeutic Drugs, Second Edition, Ed C Dollery, Churchill & Livingstone,
London, 1998
3. Disposition of Toxic Drugs and Chemicals in Man. 8th Edition,
Ed Randall C Baselt. Biomedical Publications, Foster City, Ca, 2008
The authors would like to acknowledge LGC Forensics for the prepared
samples and Francois Espourteille for the original proof of concept work
used in the methodology described here.
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