No abstract

No abstract

The analysis of blood samples for forensic or clinical intoxication cases is a daily routine in an analytical laboratory. The list of ‘suspect’ drugs of abuse and pharmaceuticals that should be ideally screened is large, so multi-targeted methods for comprehensive detection and quantification are a useful tool in the hands of a toxicologist. In this study, the development of an ultra-high performance liquid chromatography (LC)–tandem mass spectrometry (MS-MS) method is described for the detection and quantification of 84 drugs and pharmaceuticals in postmortem blood. The target compounds comprise pharmaceutical drugs (antipsychotics, antidepressants, etc.), some of the most important groups of drugs of abuse: opiates, cocaine, cannabinoids, amphetamines, benzodiazepines and new psychoactive substances. Sample pretreatment was studied applying a modified Mini-QuEChERS single step, and the best results were obtained after adding a mixture of 20 mg MgSO4, 5 mg K2CO3 and 5 mg NaCl together with 600 μL of cold acetonitrile in 200 μL of sample. After centrifugation, the supernatant was collected for direct injection. LC–MS analysis took place on a C18 column with a gradient elution over 17 min. The method was found to be selective and sensitive, offering limits of detection ranging from 0.01 to 9.07 ng/mL. Validation included evaluation of limit of quantification, recovery, carryover, matrix effect, accuracy and precision of the method. The method performed satisfactorily in relation to established bioanalytical criteria and was therefore applied to the analysis of blood obtained postmortem from chronic drug abusers, offering unambiguous identification and quantitative determination of drugs in postmortem blood.

Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) as a consequence of ethanol chronic consumption could lead to hepatic cirrhosis that is linked to high morbidity and mortality. Disease diagnosis is still very challenging and usually clear findings are obtained in the later stage of ALD. The profound effect of ethanol on metabolism can be depicted using metabolomics; thus, the discovery of novel biomarkers could shed light on the initiation and the progression of the ALD, serving diagnostic purposes. In the present study, Hydrophilic Interaction Liquid Chromatography tandem Mass Spectrometry HILIC-MS/MS based metabolomics analyisis of urine and fecal samples of C57BL/6 mice of both sexes at two sampling time points was performed, monitoring the effect of eight-week ethanol consumption. The altered hepatic metabolism caused by ethanol consumption induces extensive biochemical perturbations and changes in gut microbiota population on a great scale. Fecal samples were proven to be a suitable specimen for studying ALD since it was more vulnerable to the metabolic changes in comparison to urine samples. The metabolome of male mice was affected on a greater scale than the female metabolome due to ethanol exposure. Precursor small molecules of essential pathways of energy production responded to ethanol exposure. A meaningful correlation between the two studied specimens demonstrated the impact of ethanol in endogenous and symbiome metabolism.

No abstract