New Trend in Toxicological Screening Using Volumetric Absorptive Microsampling (VAMS) and High-Resolution Mass...

Area of Science:

• Analytical Chemistry
• Forensic Toxicology

Background:

• High-resolution mass spectrometry (HR/MS) enhances specificity and sensitivity in toxicological screenings.
• Volumetric Adsorptive Micro-Sampling (VAMS) offers a promising alternative for sample collection in toxicology.

Purpose of the Study:

• To optimize the pre-analytical steps for VAMS in whole blood drug screening.
• To determine the identification limits of drugs using VAMS coupled with HR/MS.
• To assess the clinical feasibility of this novel screening approach.

Main Methods:

• Whole blood samples were spiked with 90 drugs and collected using 20 µL Mitra® devices.
• Drug elution was performed using a solvent mixture with agitation and sonication.
• Analysis was conducted using Orbitrap™ HR/MS, with compound confirmation against a laboratory library.

Main Results:

• The optimized procedure confirmed 87 out of 90 spiked drugs, with identification limits below 12.5 ng·mL⁻¹ for 82.2% of compounds.
• Extraction yields ranged from 80.6% to 108.7%.
• In patient analysis, 98% of plasma compounds were detected in VAMS samples, showing good concordance (R² = 0.827) with whole blood.

Conclusions:

• The developed VAMS-HR/MS method is highly effective for drug screening in toxicology.
• This approach demonstrates clinical feasibility and potential for mass screening in various toxicological fields, including pediatrics and forensics.