Development of a broad toxicological screening technique for urine using ultra-performance liquid chromatography and time-of-flight mass spectrometry

Hon Kit Lee, Chung Shun Ho, Yan Ping Heidi Iu, Po Shan Judy Lai, Chi Chung Shek, Yun-Chuen Lo, Helene Bendstrup Klinke, Michelle Wood

99 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Withdrawal of the support for the REMEDi HS drug profiling system has necessitated its replacement within our laboratories with an alternative broad toxicological screening technique. To this end, a novel method, based on ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) and time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometry, was developed for the routine analysis of urine samples. Identification was achieved by comparison of acquired data to libraries containing more than 300 common drugs and metabolites, and was based on a combination of retention time, exact mass and fragmentation patterns. Validation data for the method is presented and comprised an evaluation of the following parameters: precision; transferability of the methodology between the six collaborating laboratories; specificity; extraction recovery and stability of processed samples; matrix effects and sensitivity. This paper presents the benefits of supplementary fragmentation data with particular regard to increasing specificity and confidence of identification and its usefulness with overdosed samples. The utility of the method was assessed by the parallel analysis of 30 authentic urine samples using the REMEDi HS and UPLC-TOF. The latter provided enhanced detection, leading to the identification of twice as many drugs. Furthermore it did not miss any compounds that were identified by REMEDi HS. The UPLC-TOF findings were further verified by a combination of data from three other conventional screening techniques, i.e., GC-MS, HPLC-DAD and UPLC-MS/MS.
Original languageEnglish
JournalAnalytica Chimica Acta
Volume649
Issue number1
Pages (from-to)80-90
Number of pages11
ISSN0003-2670
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Sept 2009

Keywords

  • Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid
  • Metabolome
  • Pattern Recognition, Automated
  • Pharmaceutical Preparations
  • Tandem Mass Spectrometry
  • Toxicity Tests

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