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Development and validation of a sensitive and high throughput UPLC–MS/MS method for determination of paraquat and diquat in human plasma and urine: application to poisoning cases at emergency departments of hospitals

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Abstract

Purpose

Paraquat and diquat are well-known toxic herbicides, at least responsible for hundreds of fatal poisoning events worldwide. However, the determination of diquat and paraquat in plasma and urine is very challenging because of their high polarity and double charge characteristics. In this study, we aim to develop a rapid and reliable method for the determination of paraquat and diquat in human plasma and urine by ultraperformance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry.

Method

The chromatographic separation of paraquat and diquat was tested with different chromatographic columns and different mobile phase conditions. The mass parameters were optimized by product ions, source gas flow, cone flow, desolvation temperature, and capillary voltage. The isocratic elution mode gave rapid appearance of peak of paraquat and diquat.

Results

The sharp peak shapes for paraquat and diquat were achieved with CORTECS® UPLC® HILIC (100 × 2.1 mm, 1.6 μm) column by adding formic acid and ammonium acetate in mobile phase in isocratic elution mode. The lower limit of quantification of 1.0 ng/mL for paraquat and diquat were achieved using only 50 μL of human plasma or urine. The running time for analysis of both paraquat and diquat was as short as 3.5 min per sample.

Conclusions

A rapid and reliable method for the determination of paraquat and diquat was developed and applied to 387 clinical poisoning cases and 22 poisoning cases were found to be paraquat or diquat poisoning.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Natural Science Research of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions of China (Grant No. 20KJB340001) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 82002028).

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Author notes

  1. Zhengsheng Mao and Youjia Yu have contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Forensic Medicine, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, 211166, People’s Republic of China

    Zhengsheng Mao, Youjia Yu, Weirang Xie, Qiaoyan Jiang, Yang Sun, Yue Cao & Feng Chen

  2. Jiangsu Province Hospital, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China

    Hao Sun

  3. Department of Emergency Medicine, Huaian First People’s Hospital, Huaian, China

    Hongmei Zhao

  4. Key Laboratory of Targeted Intervention of Cardiovascular Disease, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cardiovascular Disease Translational Medicine, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, 211166, People’s Republic of China

    Feng Chen

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  1. Zhengsheng Mao
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  2. Youjia Yu
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  3. Hao Sun
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Zhengsheng Mao or Feng Chen.

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This study was approved by the ethics committee of the Nanjing Medical University.

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Mao, Z., Yu, Y., Sun, H. et al. Development and validation of a sensitive and high throughput UPLC–MS/MS method for determination of paraquat and diquat in human plasma and urine: application to poisoning cases at emergency departments of hospitals. Forensic Toxicol 40, 102–110 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11419-021-00603-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11419-021-00603-9

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