TY - JOUR

T1 - Advanced microextraction techniques for the analysis of amphetamines in human breast milk and their comparison with conventional methods

AU - Bavlovič Piskáčková, Hana

AU - Nemeškalová, Alžběta

AU - Kučera, Radim

AU - Pedersen-Bjergaard, Stig

AU - Najmanová, Věra

AU - Štěrbová-Kovaříková, Petra

AU - Kuchař, Martin

AU - Sýkora, David

N1 - Funding Information: The authors would like to thank Dr. V?t ?est?k (Department of Clinical Biochemistry and Diagnostics, University Hospital Hradec Kr?lov?) for his helpful insights and for providing the QC samples for interlaboratory comparison and to Dr. Theresa Reinhardt Pisk??kov? for language editing. This work was supported by the project EFSA-CDN (grant number CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/16_019/0000841) co-funded by the European Union and by the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic (grant number MV0/VI20172020056). Funding Information: This work was supported by the project EFSA-CDN (grant number CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/16_019/0000841 ) co-funded by the European Union and by the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic (grant number MV0/VI20172020056 ). Publisher Copyright: © 2021 Elsevier B.V.

PY - 2022

Y1 - 2022

N2 - Breast milk analysis provides useful information about acute newborn exposure to harmful substances, such as psychoactive drugs abused by a nursing mother. Since breast milk represents a complex matrix with large amounts of interfering compounds, a comprehensive sample pre-treatment is necessary. This work focuses on determination of amphetamines and synthetic cathinones in human breast milk by microextraction techniques (liquid-phase microextraction and electromembrane extraction), and their comparison to more conventional treatment methods (protein precipitation, liquid-liquid extraction, and salting-out assisted liquid-liquid extraction). The aim of this work was to optimize and validate all the extraction procedures and thoroughly assess their advantages and disadvantages with special regard to their routine clinical use. The applicability of the extractions was further verified by the analysis of six real samples collected from breastfeeding mothers suspected of amphetamine abuse. The membrane microextraction techniques turned out to be the most advantageous as they required low amounts of organic solvents but still provided efficient sample clean-up, excellent quantification limit (0.5 ng mL-1), and good recovery (81–91% and 40–89% for electromembrane extraction and liquid-phase microextraction, respectively). The traditional liquid-liquid extraction as well as the salting-out assisted liquid-liquid extraction showed comparable recoveries (41–85% and 63–88%, respectively), but higher quantification limits (2.5 ng mL-1 and 5 ng mL-1, respectively). Moreover, these methods required multiple operating steps and were time consuming. Protein precipitation was fast and simple, but it demonstrated poor sample clean-up, low recovery (56–58%) and high quantification limit (5 ng mL-1). Based on the overall results, microextraction methods can be considered promising candidates, even for routine laboratory use.

AB - Breast milk analysis provides useful information about acute newborn exposure to harmful substances, such as psychoactive drugs abused by a nursing mother. Since breast milk represents a complex matrix with large amounts of interfering compounds, a comprehensive sample pre-treatment is necessary. This work focuses on determination of amphetamines and synthetic cathinones in human breast milk by microextraction techniques (liquid-phase microextraction and electromembrane extraction), and their comparison to more conventional treatment methods (protein precipitation, liquid-liquid extraction, and salting-out assisted liquid-liquid extraction). The aim of this work was to optimize and validate all the extraction procedures and thoroughly assess their advantages and disadvantages with special regard to their routine clinical use. The applicability of the extractions was further verified by the analysis of six real samples collected from breastfeeding mothers suspected of amphetamine abuse. The membrane microextraction techniques turned out to be the most advantageous as they required low amounts of organic solvents but still provided efficient sample clean-up, excellent quantification limit (0.5 ng mL-1), and good recovery (81–91% and 40–89% for electromembrane extraction and liquid-phase microextraction, respectively). The traditional liquid-liquid extraction as well as the salting-out assisted liquid-liquid extraction showed comparable recoveries (41–85% and 63–88%, respectively), but higher quantification limits (2.5 ng mL-1 and 5 ng mL-1, respectively). Moreover, these methods required multiple operating steps and were time consuming. Protein precipitation was fast and simple, but it demonstrated poor sample clean-up, low recovery (56–58%) and high quantification limit (5 ng mL-1). Based on the overall results, microextraction methods can be considered promising candidates, even for routine laboratory use.

KW - Amphetamines

KW - Breast milk

KW - Electromembrane extraction

KW - Liquid-phase microextraction

KW - Sample treatment

KW - Synthetic cathinones

U2 - 10.1016/j.jpba.2021.114549

DO - 10.1016/j.jpba.2021.114549

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 34998075

AN - SCOPUS:85122263042

VL - 210

JO - Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis

JF - Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis

SN - 0731-7085

M1 - 114549

ER -