A fast method for GHB-GLUC quantitation in whole blood by GC-MS/MS (TQD) for forensic purposes

作者：Dias Ana S; Castro Andre L^*; Melo Paula; Tarelho Sonia; Domingue Pedro; Franco Joao Miguel

来源：Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis, 2018, 150: 107-111.

DOI：10.1016/j.jpba.2017.11.072

• Gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB)
• GHB glucuronide (GHB-GLUC)
• Mass spectrometry
• GC-MS/MS
• Analytical validation
• Post-mortem interval
• Forensic toxicology

gamma-Hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) is an endogenous compound with a historical use, both in licit and illicit terms. Importantly, the post-mortem behavior of GHB has been studied due to the possibility of using this compound as a biomarker for estimating the post-mortem interval (PMI). However, the post-mortem behavior of the recently discovered glucuronated GHB metabolite (GHB-GLUC) has not been studied. Nevertheless, GHB-GLUC may also have potential both to assist in PMI determination and also to increase the window of detection of GHB consumption.
In this work, for the first time, a reliable method using GC-MS/MS for the quantification of GHB-GLUC in whole blood samples was developed and validated, with a simple, fast and cheap sample pretreatment. The method proved to be specific, precise, linear in a work range between 200 and 5000 ng/mL, with LOD and LOQ of 52.65 ng/mL and 200 ng/mL, respectively, and an extraction recovery of 51%.
Furthermore, the method was applied to a set of real post-mortem blood samples non-related with GHB intoxication and the obtained results were also discussed.

• 出版日期2018-2-20