Published: Journal of Analytical Toxicology, ISSN 0146-4760, Volume 31, Number 4, May 2007, pp. 200-207

Quantification of Tricyclic Antidepressants and Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography–Tandem Mass Spectrometry in Whole Blood
Karine Titier, Nadège Castaing, Maité Le-Déodic, Delphine Le-bars, Nicholas Moore, and Mathieu Molimard
Department of Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology, Pellegrin Hospital and University Victor Segalen, 33076 Bordeaux, France

Here we describe a liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry method for the blood determination of tricyclic antidepressant drugs (amitriptyline, clomipramine, trimipramine, and imipramine, doxepin, mianserin, maprotyline, dosulepine, amoxapine), their active metabolites (desipramine, nortriptyline, demethylclomipramine, and nordoxepin), and monoamine oxidase inhibitors (toloxatone and moclobemide). A nontricyclic antidepressant (viloxazine) and two other anxiolytic drugs (buspirone and hydroxyzine) that could be encountered in toxicology have been included to this method. After a liquid–liquid extraction from blood, the compounds and their internal standard (methylrisperidone) were eluted on a XTerra® RP18 column with a gradient of acetonitrile/ammonium formate buffer 4 mmol/L (pH 3.2). They were then detected by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry with multiple reaction monitoring mode. The calibration curves were linear over the range 5–100 ng/mL. The limit of quantification was 2 ng/mL for each compound. The bias were lower than 10%. Intraday and interday precisions, expressed as variation coefficient, were lower than 13%. The extraction recoveries were between 60 and 80% except for moclobemide, viloxazine, and toloxatone (10–60%). This specific and sensitive method allows management of intoxication and is suitable for the routine determination of antidepressants in forensic investigation.

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