Real-time drug detection using a diathermic knife combined to rapid evaporative ionisation mass spectrometry

TALANTA

卷:221

Article

Van Hese, Laura^1,2,3  Vaysse, Pierre-Maxence^3,4,5  Siegel, Tiffany Porta³  Heeren, Ron³  Rex, Steffen¹  Cuypers, Eva^2,3 

[1] Katholieke Univ Leuven, Dept Anaesthesiol, Dept Cardiovasc Sci, Univ Hosp Leuven, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium

[2] Katholieke Univ Leuven, Toxicol & Pharmacol, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium

[3] Maastricht Univ, Div Imaging Mass Spectrometry, Maastricht MultiModal Mol Imaging M4I Inst, NL-6229 ER Maastricht, Netherlands

[4] Maastricht Univ, Dept Surg, Med Ctr, NL-6229 HX Maastricht, Netherlands

[5] Maastricht Univ, Dept Otorhinolaryngol Head & Neck Surg, Med Ctr, NL-6229 HX Maastricht, Netherlands

关键词: REIMS;    Real-time detection;    Drugs;    Muscle;    Forensic toxicology;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.talanta.2020.121391

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

Fast, accurate and sensitive detection of drugs in human tissue is of crucial importance in an investigation of a suspicious death. Here, we aimed to screen cocaine, diazepam, methadone and morphine in post-mortem muscle samples without sample preparation and in quasi-real time using rapid evaporative ionisation mass spectrometry (REIMS). REIMS enables the online MS analysis of vapours generated from tissue dissection by a diathermic knife. Human muscle samples were soaked in solutions of 4 drugs at different concentrations and multiple incubation times to check the feasibility of REIMS for this innovative application. Muscle samples soaked in blank saline were used as a control. The classification model was able to distinguish between 30 mu g g(-1) cocaine (m/z 304.2), 200 mu g g(-1) morphine (m/z 286.2), 10 mu g g(-1) methadone (m/z 310.2) and 10 mu g g(-1) muscle of diazepam (m/z 285.1). REIMS tandem MS confirmed that the mass peaks that contributed to the class separation, originated from the drugs of interest. As a proof-of-concept, a forensic case muscle sample from a methadone overdose was investigated using REIMS. Here, using our classification model, the recognition software was able to detect methadone, demonstrating that the REIMS method opens new possibilities in forensic toxicology and during autopsy, leading to faster crime solving and decreased costs.

【 授权许可】

Free