Rapid measurement of anticoagulant rodenticides in human blood and urine using online turbulent flow chromatography coupled with liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry

Abstract

AbstractAnticoagulant rodenticides (ARs) are widely used to control rodents. A method based on online turbulent flow chromatography (TFC) combined with LC-MS/MS has been established for rapid quantitative determination of eight ARs in human blood and urine. This method, which does not require time-consuming pre-processing steps, renders it especially suited for use in emergency poisoning cases. Sample preparation, including extraction, centrifugation, and filtration, was followed by online clean-up using TFC. The total run-time was within 13.5 min, including online purification, chromatographic separation, and re-equilibration of the TFC system. The parameters for sample extraction, purification, separation, and detection in this study were optimized separately. The linear regression coefficients of matrix-matched calibration standard curves established for quantification were greater than 0.9976. The limit of quantification (LOQ) for the method were found to be 0.3–3.0 ng/mL in human blood and 0.06–0.6 ng/mL in urine. The recoveries of spiked target compounds at different concentrations in human blood and urine were 91.8–111.9% and 86.9–105.3%, respectively. Inter- and intra-day precision values were both less than 12.5%, and the matrix effects of human blood and urine samples for ARs were 75.3–108.6% and 102.7–130.0%, respectively. This method had successfully applied to the emergency detection of ARs in biological samples of poisoned patients.