The testing of alternative matrices in forensic and/or clinical toxicology is gaining popularity, partly due to less invasive means of collection. Matrices such as hair or nail can provide a more rounded picture of abstinence or abuse and associated timeframes.
This application note describes a procedure for sample pre-treatment and extraction of THC and its metabolites from human nail samples, using the Biotage® Lysera for matrix pulverisation, and pre-concentration of the sample prior to clean up using ISOLUTE® SLE+ supported liquid extraction.
Manual processing protocols were developed using the Biotage® Pressure+ 96 (plate format) or 48 (column format) Positive Pressure Manifolds.
This application note contains procedures optimized for both individual column format and 96-well plate format for higher throughput applications. The methodology delivers clean extracts with analyte recoveries > 70% (plate format) or > 75% (column format) with %RSD < 10% for all analytes and LLOQ as low as 20 fg/mg of nail.
ISOLUTE SLE+ Supported Liquid Extraction columns and plates offer an efficient alternative to traditional liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) for bioanalytical sample preparation, providing high analyte recoveries, no emulsion formation and significantly reduced preparation time.