A major mechanism of the metabolism of many pain management drugs involves conjugation of the analyte with glucuronic acid. To ensure accurate results when drugs are determined from urine matrices the analytes must be deconjugated which is typically performed by hydrolysis using enzymes such as beta-glucuronidase. Typical hydrolysis procedures involve long incubation periods at specified temperatures and have traditionally been performed manually.
This study shows how a typical enzymatic hydrolysis procedure can be easily automated using a GERSTEL MultiPurpose Sampler(MPS), combining an automated extraction and clean-up procedure with introduction to the LC/MS/MS, in order to provide high throughput analysis of common pain management drugs.
