Benzodiazepines (BZDs), which were the most prescribed medications globally in the 80s, remain frequently used as recreational drugs and are implicated in drug-facilitated sexual assaults or driving under influence of drugs cases. They are used for their anxiolytic, sedative, muscle relaxant and anticonvulsant properties. For that reasons, quantitative screening of BZDs is a routine work for emergency samples in a clinical toxicology context. Laboratories typically rely on immunochromatography (lateral flow test) or immunohistochemistry methods which quickly generate a result but often suffer from two major drawbacks:
- numerous false negative results
- only qualitative information
In this study, we aimed to develop an ultra-fast method for the measurement of BZDs by using a Probe Electrospray Ionization (PESI) tandem mass spectrometry system with an isotope dilution approach to benefit sensitivity and specificity of MS with the speed of PESI.
>> Download the Application Note as a PDF
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