Objective Tiletamine, a veterinary anesthetic, has emerged as a novel psychoactive substance and has been abused in many parts of the world, causing great harm to public health. However, the sensitivity of existing detection methods cannot meet the needs of forensic practice. This study aims to establish an ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) method for the determination of tiletamine and its metabolite desethyltiletamine in human biological samples, and to verify its applicability in forensic practice. Methods SKF525A was used as the internal standard. Biological samples were extracted with acetonitrile containing 1 ng/mL SKF525A, vortexed for 10 min, ultrasonicated for 20 min, centrifuged at 10 000 r/min for 10 min, and 500 μL of the supernatant was filtered through a 0.22 μm membrane. Analyses were performed using an ACQUITY UPLC H-Class PLUS system and an XEVO TQ-S Micro triple quadrupole mass spectrometer. An ACQUITY UPLC® BEH C18 (1.7 µm, 2.1 mm×100 mm) column at a flow rate of 0.3 mL/min was used, and four mobile phase systems were tested to optimize separation. Detection used positive electrospray ionization (ESI+) in multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode, with quantifier ion transitions of mass to charge 224.043→179.016 for tiletamine and mass to charge 196.08→151.06 for desethyltiletamine. Calibration curves were established over 0.1-200 ng/mL in spiked blood samples. The linear range, limit of detection (LOD), and limit of quantification (LOQ) were determined. Low (5 ng/mL), medium (20 ng/mL), and high (100 ng/mL) concentrations of tiletamine were spiked into blood, liver, and kidney to evaluate precision, accuracy, matrix effect, recovery, and stability. Finally, actual forensic case samples were tested to validate applicability. Results The established UPLC-MS/MS method achieved simultaneous detection of tiletamine and desethyltiletamine in human biological samples, with retention times of 3.42 min and 2.82 min, respectively. Using mobile phase A (20 mmol/L ammonium acetate and 0.1% formic acid in water) and mobile phase B (acetonitrile) produced the best separation. In blood, tiletamine showed good linearity from 0.1-200 ng/mL (r=0.992, R2=0.983), LOD 0.03 ng/mL, LOQ 0.1 ng/mL, recovery 92%-107%, and matrix effect 71%-99%. In liver and kidney, recoveries were 91%-98% and 93%-104%, and matrix effects were 69%-96% and 72%-100%, respectively. Intra- and inter-day precision [expressed as relative standard deviation (RSD)] and accuracy [expressed as relative error (RE)] were within 15%, and samples were stable at -20 ℃. Tiletamine was detected in actual case samples at 0.37 μg/mL (blood), 0.15 μg/g (liver), 0.11 μg/g (kidney) in case 1, and 8.75 ng/mL (blood) in case 2; desethyltiletamine was also detected in blood. Conclusion The UPLC-MS/MS method is efficient, accurate, and sensitive, and is suitable for detecting tiletamine and desethyltiletamine in human biological samples.
质谱法凭借其高灵敏度与准确性,成为检测替来他明的首选手段。何思阳等[15]采用气相色谱四级杆飞行时间质谱(gas chromatography-quadrupole time of flight mass spectrometry,GC-QTOF-MS)法成功定性检测了某药物辅助性犯罪案件尿样中的替来他明及其代谢物。宋辉等[16]通过气相色谱-质谱联用(gas chromatography-mass spectrometry,GC-MS)法在槟榔样本中实现了替来他明的定性与定量分析,其检出限和定量限分别为0.15 μg/mL和0.5 μg/mL。电子烟烟油燃烧过程中释放的替来他明可附着于大气颗粒物表面。闻武等[6]通过采样器富集结合超高效液相色谱-串联质谱法,实现了对大气颗粒物中残留替来他明的定量检测。而张婧文等[17]结合液液萃取和超高效液相色谱-四极杆/静电场轨道阱高分辨率质谱法,实现了对人血样及尿样中替来他明的高灵敏度检测。Fenwick等[18]通过液相色谱-高分辨率质谱(liquid chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometric,LC-HRMS)法在马肝的体外代谢模型中检测到替来他明和代谢物去乙基替来他明。然而,现有方法对人体生物样本中替来他明的定量检测灵敏度仍难以充分满足法医学实践中的检测需求,且无法实现对代谢物的有效检测。
本研究在已有工作基础上,建立了一种超高效液相色谱-串联质谱(ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry,UPLC-MS/MS)法用于人体生物样本中替来他明的定量分析及血样中去乙基替来他明的定性检测,并通过方法学验证其能否应用于法医学实践。
取多份体积为1 mL的空白血液样本,根据1.3样品前处理方法处理血样,制备浓度梯度为0.1、0.2、0.5、1、2、5、10、20、50、100、200 ng/mL替来他明的阳性血样及空白血样,每个浓度均制备3份平行样本,在1.4仪器条件下进行分析并记录其响应值,通过最小二乘法进行线性回归获得校准曲线。检测限(limit of detection,LOD)和定量限(limit of quantification,LOQ)基于以下公式计算:LOD=3 σblank/m、LOQ=10 σblank/m(其中σblank是空白血样响应值的标准差,m是校准曲线的斜率)[19]。σblank是通过连续测量空白血样10次,并计算其响应值的标准差获得。
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