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The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a high-sensitivity methodology for identifying one of the most used drugs—ketamine. Ketamine is used medicinally to treat depression, alcoholism, and heroin addiction. Moreover, ketamine is the main ingredient used in so-called “date-rape” pills (DRP). This study presents a novel methodology for the simultaneous determination of ketamine based on the Dried Blood Spot (DBS) method, in combination with capillary electrophoresis coupled with a mass spectrometer (CE-TOF-MS). Then, 6-mm circles were punched out from DBS collected on Whatman DMPK-C paper and extracted using microwave-assisted extraction (MAE). The assay was linear in the range of 25–300 ng/mL. Values of limits of detection (LOD = 6.0 ng/mL) and quantification (LOQ = 19.8 ng/mL) were determined based on the signal to noise ratio. Intra-day precision at each determined concentration level was in the range of 6.1–11.1%, and inter-day between 7.9–13.1%. The obtained precision was under 15.0% (for medium and high concentrations) and lower than 20.0% (for low concentrations), which are in accordance with acceptance criteria. Therefore, the DBS/MAE/CE-TOF-MS method was successfully checked for analysis of ketamine in matrices other than blood, i.e., rose wine and orange juice. Moreover, it is possible to identify ketamine in the presence of flunitrazepam, which is the other most popular ingredient used in DRP. Based on this information, the selectivity of the proposed methodology for identifying ketamine in the presence of other components of rape pills was checked.

The present investigation utilised the quick and easy SPME/LC-MS method to determine selected narcotic substances and their metabolites in whole blood. The study included qualitative analysis and validation of the method. Analytes were determined in the linearity range of 25–300 ng/mL. The precision during and between days (in general CV < 13.41%), and the LOD which results in between 0.36 and 11.08 ng/mL, and the LOQ between 1.20 and 36.90 ng/mL were investigated. The validation results obtained, as well as the results of subsequent in-laboratory tests, confirmed the applicability of the method in the analysis of blood samples. An attempt to apply the method to the analysis of bone marrow samples has yielded promising results; however, more detailed studies are needed in this area.

The diagnosis of affective disorders has been the subject of constant research by clinicians from all over the world for many years. Making an appropriate diagnosis among patients suffering from mood disorders is sometimes problematic due to the personality-changing nature of patients and the similarity in the clinical picture of episodes in affective disorders. For this reason, there is a need to develop rapid and effective methods of determining biological markers that differentiate these diseases. The research was carried out with blood taken from 15 patients and 15 volunteers. The analysis of biological material for trace concentrations of zinc and copper was carried out with the use of ultrasensitive triple-quadrupole inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (TQ ICP-MS). The obtained results prove that the concentration of copper in the test group was lower than in the control group. For the zinc concentrations, the inverse relationship was observed. The group of patients was characterized by a higher concentration of this element than the group of healthy volunteers. Summarizing the obtained results and comparing them with the results of studies by other authors, it was found that zinc and copper may be potential biomarkers of affective disorders and pandemic syndrome.