Quantitative analysis of methadone in human urine samples by microextraction in packed syringe-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (MEPS-GC-MS)

A method for the simultaneous analysis of methadone in urine samples by microextraction in a packed syringe online with GC-MS (MEPS-GC-MS) is described. The new method reduced the sample handling and the detection limit by two- to seven-fold compared to published methods. Using a quantitation method based on the calculation of analyte concentration by comparison to an internal standard, we were able to measure methadone levels consistent with values reported for healthy individuals. The intra-assay precisions (RSD) of the method using quality control (QC) samples at three different concentration levels were about 11 - 14% (n = 6). The interassay precisions (RSD) were 11 - 15% for methadone in urine samples (n = 18). The accuracy varied from 89 to 109% for intra-assay (n = 6), and 97 to 107% for inter-assay (n = 18). The regression correlation coefficients (r(2)) were over 0.99 in all experiments.