Analysis of eight OTC drug components in postmortem dried blood spot samples by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry
Nishio et al.
The finding, in our words
Validated a dried blood spot LC-MS/MS method for eight over-the-counter drugs, demonstrating favourable linearity and precision with coefficients of variation below 13%. Although applied to postmortem specimens in forensic toxicology, the robust analytical performance illustrates microsampling potential for comprehensive drug screening, which could inform decentralised overdose surveillance and toxicology monitoring.
A paraphrase to the Library’s standard, never the abstract. The source is one link away and is always the authority.
The analysis indicates that dried blood spots and volumetric absorptive microsampling enable minimally invasive monitoring of prohibited substances, with volumetric absorptive microsampling offering improved quantitative reliability over traditional dried spots.
A validated two-step LC-MS/MS protocol can identify 91 prohibited doping agents from a single dried blood spot collected on either cellulose cards or volumetric absorptive microsampling devices. This demonstrates robust multi-analyte screening from capillary blood, supporting decentralised anti-doping programmes where venous sampling is impractical.
This review highlights that microsampling techniques such as dried blood spots and volumetric absorptive microsampling offer superior alternatives to traditional sampling for the mass spectrometry detection of prohibited substances in anti-doping analysis. It provides guidance on selecting appropriate analytical methods and sample pretreatment strategies to ensure sensitive detection and reliable storage conditions.
Maykar et al., Critical reviews in analytical chemistry (paywalled) · source ↗
Dried blood spot sampling coupled with LC-HRMS identified and quantified 37 synthetic opioids with detection limits of 0.05 to 0.2 ng/mL. The method proved stable over seven days at ambient temperature and simplified collection, storage, and transport compared with frozen venous blood, which is pertinent for decentralised toxicology screening.
Mestria et al., Forensic science international (paywalled) · source ↗
The authors developed and validated a liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry method for measuring parabens and PFAS in dried blood spots, achieving good linearity, sensitivity and precision with low sample volumes. Applied to 51 human samples, the method detected methylparaben, ethylparaben, propylparaben and two PFAS compounds in every participant, supporting the use of dried blood spots for large scale biomonitoring of environmental chemical exposure.
López-Ruiz et al., Analytica chimica acta (paywalled) · source ↗