Development of a clinically relevant liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry assay for 13 drugs of abuse in urine, designed to meet the needs of the service users

作者：Duxbury K^*; Romagnoli C; Anderson M; Watts R; Waite G

来源：Annals of Clinical Biochemistry, 2010, 47: 415-422.

DOI：10.1258/acb.2010.010049

Background: The clinical requirements of the users of assay results must be at the centre of assay development. We aimed to develop a single liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) assay for drugs of abuse in urine that would meet the needs of our service users and replace the multiple screening and confirmatory techniques previously in use.
Methods: After discussion with our users, it was decided that 13 drugs and metabolites should be measured in our panel: morphine, codeine, norcodeine, dihydrocodeine, 6-monoacetylmorphine, acetyl codeine, methadone and its metabolite, buprenorphine and its metabolite, amphetamine, benzoylecgonine and cotinine. Urine samples were prepared by the addition of internal standard, enzymatic hydrolysis and solid-phase extraction. Chromatography conditions were optimized so that the analytes were separated within a run time of 6 min. Optimal parent to daughter m/z ion transitions were chosen for all drugs and daughter ion ratios were used.
Results: The LC-MS/MS assay was successfully validated with acceptable precision and lower limits of quantification for all drugs. No matrix effects were seen. The results produced by the LC-MS/MS assay compared well with the previous combination of techniques in use.
Conclusions: We have developed and validated a fit-for-purpose LC-MS/MS assay for 13 drugs of abuse in urine that obviates the need for multiple screening and confirmatory analytical techniques.

• 出版日期2010-9