Atropine Eye Drops: An Unusual Homicidal Poisoning

LC-MS/MS determination of atropine toxicity: Pre-analytical effect of blood collection tube and analytical matrix

Atropine (ATR) intoxication is a recurrent case in emergency departments. The diagnosis is dependent on clinical evaluation and is supported by analytical assessment. The assay is limited by the rapid degradation/metabolism of ATR into TRP as well as the preanalytical factors impairing correct detection and diagnosis. In this study, an HPLC-MS/MS method was optimized for the simultaneous determination of ATR and TRP. The effect of analytical matrix and the impact of blood-collection tube type on the ATR analytical signal were investigated. Separation was achieved using water: 0.01% formic acid acidified methanol (40: 60, v/v) as a mobile phase and Inertsil® C18 column (5 µm; 4.6*150 mm) as a stationary phase. The retention-times were 2.6 and 6.5 min for ATR and TRP, respectively. A chromatographic shift (0.4 min) in ATR peak, but not TRP, was observed in biological samples from neat ones. The best analytical signal was observed when heparinized blood collection tubes were employed. The method was linear, accurate and precise in the ATR toxicity range enabling the detection of ATR intoxication down to a concentration of 0.1 ng/mL by applying a simple sample clean-up procedure. In conclusion, an HPLC-MS/MS method for the simultaneous determination of ATR and TRP is presented. The method highlights the chromatographic shift of ATR peak in biological samples that may induce false-negative detection and poses TRP as an alternative toxicological marker for ATR toxicity. Meanwhile the study recommends heparin tubes for blood-sample collection.

Development of CE-C4D Method for Determination Tropane Alkaloids

A fast method for the determination of tropane alkaloids, using a portable CE instrument with a capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detector (CE-C⁴D) was developed and validated for determination of atropine and scopolamine in seeds from Solanaceae family plants. Separation was obtained within 5 min, using an optimized background electrolyte consisting of 0.5 M acetic acid with 0.25% (w/v) β-CD. The limit of detection and quantification was 0.5 µg/mL and 1.5 µg/mL, respectively, for both atropine and scopolamine. The developed method was validated with the following parameters—precision (CV): 1.07–2.08%, accuracy of the assay (recovery, RE): 101.0–102.7% and matrix effect (ME): 92.99–94.23%. Moreover, the optimized CE-C⁴D method was applied to the analysis of plant extracts and pharmaceuticals, proving its applicability and accuracy.

Screening approach by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry for the blood quantification of thirty-four toxic principles of plant origin. Application to forensic toxicology

Plant poisonings have left their mark on history and still cause many deaths, whether intentional or accidental. The means to show toxicological evidence of such poisonings should be implemented with great care. This article presents a technique for measuring thirty-nine toxic principles of plant origin in the blood, covering a large amount of toxins from local or exotic plants: α-lobeline, α-solanine, aconitine, ajmaline, atropine, brucine, cephalomannine, colchicine, convallatoxin, cymarine, cytisine, digitoxin, digoxin, emetine, gelsemine, ibogaine, jervine, kavain, lanatoside C, lupanine, mitragynine, neriifolin, oleandrin, ouabain, paclitaxel, physostigmine, pilocarpine, podophyllotoxin, proscillaridin A, reserpine, retrorsine, ricinine, scopolamine, senecionine, sparteine, strophanthidin, strychnine, veratridine and yohimbine. Analysis was carried out using an original ultra-high performance liquid chromatography separation coupled with tandem mass spectrometry detection. Extraction was a standard solid phase extraction performed on Oasis(®) HLB cartridge. Thirty-four of the thirty-nine compounds were put through a validation procedure. The assay was linear in the calibration curve range from 0.5 or 5 μg/L to 1000 μg/L according to the compounds. The method is sensitive (LOD from 0.1 to 1.6 μg/L). The within-day precision of the assay was less than 22.5% at the LLOQ, and the between-day precision was less than 21.5% for 10 μg/L for all the compounds included. The assay accuracy was in the range of 87.4 to 119.8% for the LLOQ. The extraction recovery and matrix effect ranged from 30 to 106% and from -30 to 14%, respectively. It has proven useful and effective in several difficult forensic cases.