A rapid and sensitive mass spectrometric method was developed for the simultaneous determination of coinage metals such as copper (Cu), silver (Ag) and gold (Au). The metals in a wet ashed tissue solution were complexed with diethyldithiocarbamate (DDC; C 4 H 10 NCS 2) and were extracted together with isoamyl alcohol. After the acidification of the extract with oxalic acid, metals were quantified using their product ions, Cu(DDCH) + , Ag(DDCH) + and Au(DDCH) + that derived from the precursor ions Cu(DDC) 2 + , Ag(DDC) 2 + and Au(DDC) 2 + , respectively, by electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry. The limits of detection were 0.6, 0.3 and 1 gl-1 for Cu, Ag and Au and the quantification ranges were 2-100, 1-100 and 3-100 gl-1 for Cu, Ag and Au, respectively. Cu levels in spontaneously hypertensive osteogenic disorder rats at 6 weeks old and at 30 weeks old were found to be 1.8 times and 5.1 times those of the normotensive osteogenic disorder rats, respectively, when using wet-ashed kidney solutions diluted to 1,000 fold.