The lightweight spherical samplers for simplified collection, storage, and ambient ionization of drugs from saliva and blood

Abstract

The continuous monitoring of health conditions before, during, and after spaceflight is an important task in gravitational physiology. Thus a simple, non-invasive method for biological samples collection is required, but the specific limitations, such as weight and volume restrictions, limit the variety of suitable samplers. The physiological changes exist at microgravity (μG) conditions and could influence drug pharmacokinetics. Here we present the application of lightweight spherical sampler probes for the simplified sampling of human saliva with further detection of exogenous small molecules by the ambient mass spectrometry. The rigidity and spherical form of the sampler probes allow collecting saliva smears or biological fluids without additional instruments and improve the stability of the ionization process leading to the increased sensitivity of the analysis. The detection and quantitation of acetaminophen, which is used as a model substance, was proved to demonstrate the analytical capabilities of the proposed method to the saliva smears or whole blood samples even after long-term storage at room temperature. The further investigation of drug pharmacokinetic at μG conditions might be provided by means of proposed samplers.