Comparison of Capillary-Zone Electrophoresis with the LC-UV–Remedi System for Emergency Toxicological Screening

Abstract

Capillary-zone electrophoresis (CZE) has been investigated for urgent toxicological screening of serum of poisoned patients. Samples (115) have been analyzed in parallel with the liquid chromatograph (LC)–ultraviolet (UV)–Remedi (Biorad^TM) system. This study highlighted the advantages and the disadvantages of this method compared to the LC-UV–Remedi method. The majority of the molecules identified with the LC-UV–Remedi method were also found with CZE, some with more sensitivity. However, it showed the limitations of the method, including its extraction procedure and analysis of weakly basic drugs. With some improvements, this system may be an alternative to traditional LC coupled with a diode array detector.

Keywords:

• Capillary-zone electrophoresis
• general unknown screening
• liquid chromatography
• toxicology

Notes

^a No identification: 0% identification; medium/poor: <60% identification; good: 60–80% identification; excellent: >80% identification; *: when the molecule was identified in only one case, no conclusion about the quality of the identification was made.