[Application of liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (LC/MS) to determine antidepressants in blood samples].

A simultaneous determination of twelve antidepressant drugs (amitriptyline, chlorpromazine, clomipramine, doxepin, fluoxetine, levomepromazine, maprotiline, paroxetine, perazine, promazine, sertraline, thioridazine) in blood samples was developed using high-performance liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry (LC/MS). Blood samples were extracted with acetonitrile and separated by HPLC on a reversed phase C18 column with a mobile phase consisting of acetonitrile -0.1% trifluoroacetic acid (50:50 (v/v) at a flow-rate of 0.4 ml/min. The analytes were determined using electrospray ionization in a single quadrupole mass spectrometer. LC-ESI-MS was performed in the selected-ion monitoring (SIM) mode using target ions. The validated method was successfully used to analyze antidepressants in blood samples collected from four victims of suicide by hanging.