Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 23, 2026
07:26
A Simple Method for Automated Solid Phase Extraction of Water Samples for Immunological Analysis of Small Pollutants
Published on: January 1, 2016
14.2K
Evaluation of blood impurity removal efficiency using the QuEChERS method
Haruki Kuze1, Haruhi Yoshida1, Hikaru Tamagawa1
1School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, The University of Osaka, Yamadaoka 1-6, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan.
Forensic Toxicology
|October 6, 2025
Summary
The Quick, Easy, Cheap, Effective, Rugged, Safe (QuEChERS) method significantly reduces blood impurities compared to deproteinization. While QuEChERS shows lower recovery for polar drugs, it offers superior impurity removal for analytical instruments.
Area of Science:
- Forensic toxicology
- Analytical chemistry
- Biochemistry
Background:
- Drug analysis in forensic autopsies relies on effective sample pretreatment.
- Deproteinization and QuEChERS are common methods for preparing blood samples.
- Evaluating impurity removal is crucial for accurate drug quantification.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare the impurity removal efficiency of deproteinization and QuEChERS methods.
- To assess the impact of these methods on drug recovery and matrix effects.
- To determine the optimal pretreatment method for forensic blood analysis.
Main Methods:
- Residual cardiac blood samples were pretreated using deproteinization and QuEChERS.
- Quantified residual total proteins, lipids, glucose, galactose, and electrolytes.
- Measured recovery rates and matrix factors for 17 drugs using LC/MS/MS.
Main Results:
- QuEChERS removed significantly more impurities (proteins, lipids, glucose, galactose, electrolytes) than deproteinization.
- Deproteinization left higher residual amounts of proteins (16%) and lipids (75%).
- QuEChERS showed lower recovery for metformin but comparable recovery and matrix factors for other drugs compared to deproteinization.
Conclusions:
- QuEChERS is highly efficient in removing blood impurities, reducing analytical instrument load.
- Despite lower recovery for polar drugs, QuEChERS does not impede their detection.
- QuEChERS is a superior pretreatment method to deproteinization for forensic blood drug analysis.
