Abstract
In this work, a commercially available autosampler was
adapted to perform direct liquid microjunction (LMJ)
surface sampling followed by a high-pressure liquid
chromatography (HPLC) separation of the extract components
and detection with electrospray ionization mass
spectrometry (ESI-MS). To illustrate the utility of coupling
a separation with this direct liquid extraction based
surface sampling approach, four different organs (brain,
lung, kidney, and liver) from whole-body thin tissue
sections of propranolol dosed and control mice were
examined. The parent drug was observed in the chromatograms
of the surface sampling extracts from all the
organs of the dosed mouse examined. In addition, two
isomeric phase II metabolites of propranolol (an aliphatic
and an aromatic hydroxypropranolol glucuronide) were
observed in the chromatograms of the extracts from lung,
kidney, and liver. Confirming the presence of one or the
other or both of these glucuronides in the extract from
the various organs was not possible without the separation.
These drug and metabolite data obtained using the
LMJ surface sampling/HPLC-MS method and the results
achieved by analyzing similar samples by conventional
extraction of the tissues and subsequent HPLC-MS
analysis were consistent.
