Simultaneous determination of ethanol's four types of non-oxidative metabolites in human whole blood by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

  • Xinyu Zhang
  • Feng Zheng
  • Zebin Lin
  • Johansen, Sys Stybe
  • Tianfang Yu
  • Yuming Liu
  • Zhibin Huang
  • Jiaolun Li
  • Jie Yan
  • Yulan Rao

The importance of ethanol non-oxidative metabolites as the specific biomarkers of alcohol consumption in clinical and forensic settings is increasingly acknowledged. Simultaneous determination of these metabolites can provide a wealth of information like drinking habit and history, but it was difficult to achieve because of their wide range of polarity. This work describes development and validation of a simple liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) assay for 4 types of ethanol non-oxidative metabolites (ethyl glucuronide, ethyl sulfate, fatty acid ethyl esters and phosphatidylethanols) in 50 μL of human whole blood. Pretreatment method, column and MS conditions were optimized. For the first time, the four types of ethanol non-oxidative metabolites with enormous discrepancies of property were simultaneously extracted and analyzed in one run within 40 min. The limits of detections (LODs) were among 0.1-10 ng/mL, and good linearity was obtained. Deviations in precision and accuracy were all lower than 15% at three QC levels. This method was then applied to two forensic samples, resulting in information on drinking habits and drinking time which were very useful for the interpretation of the blood alcohol results.

Original languageEnglish
JournalAnalytica Chimica Acta
Volume963
Pages (from-to)68-75
Number of pages8
ISSN0003-2670
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2017

    Research areas

  • Journal Article

ID: 174934818