Quantitative analysis of thiamylal and its metabolite secobarbital using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry in adipose tissue, serum, and liver

Thiamylal is an ultrashort-acting barbiturate used for intravenous administration or general anesthesia induction. However, some cases of poisoning and suicide with thiamylal administration have been reported. Additionally, there are few reports on its analysis in the organs and adipose tissue, which requires purification by column chromatography and evaporation. A rapid and sensitive method was developed for quantifying thiamylal and its metabolite, secobarbital, in the adipose tissue, serum, and liver using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Samples were prepared using modified QuEChERS extraction. For adipose tissue samples, an acetonitrile-hexane partitioning step was added to the extraction. This method was applied to investigate a suspected self-poisoning autopsy case. The quantitation accuracy for thiamylal added to porcine pericardial fat (0.18 mu g/g), human serum (0.015 mu g/mL), and porcine liver (0.18 mu g/g) was 103%, 113%, and 95.3%, respectively. The quantitation limits calculated for porcine pericardial fat, human serum, and porcine liver at a signal-to-noise ratio of 10 were 0.06 mu g/g, 0.005 mu g/mL, and 0.06 mu g/g, respectively. In addition, the thiamylal and secobarbital levels in the forensic autopsy case were 140 and 1.5 mu g/g, respectively, in myocardial fat; 3.5-4.9 and 0.12-0.20 mu g/mL, respectively, in serum; and 6.2-42 and 0.58-1.1 mu g/g, respectively, in liver tissue. Thiamylal is especially distributed in the adipose tissue. The thiamylal-to-fat ratio may help estimate the time from administration to death. The developed modified QuEChERS extraction method with acetonitrile-hexane partitioning is suitable for analyzing hydrophobic compounds, such as thiamylal, in the adipose tissue.