A rapid, sensitive liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method was developed and validated for the determination and quantification of
cantharidin in rats liver and kidney. After grinding with
methanol, the supernatant was determined by LC-MS/MS using an Thermo Accucore C18 column (100 mm×2.1 mm, 2.6 μm) with a gradient elution of 0.1%
formic acid and 0.1%
acetonitrile, and in the subsequent analysis using selected reaction monitoring mode, three ion transitions were monitored for analyte. The limit of detection (LOD) was 0.741 ng/ml and the limit of quantitation (LOQ) was 2.471 ng/ml. Good linearity (R2 = 0.9998) was observed for the analyte over the linear range (5-400 ng/ml). The LC-MS/MS method was applied to the analysis of rats liver and kidney in different postmortem intervals (6 h, 12 h, 24 h, 48 h, 72 h and 168 h after death) after a single dose (4 mg/kg) of
cantharidin administration by gavage. At 72 h after death, the
cantharidin concentration in livers and kidneys were significantly higher than that in other postmortem intervals. Linear regression equations between postmortem interval and lg postmortem
cantharidin concentration in rats liver and kidney were Y = 0.007455*X + 1.332(R2 = 0.863) and Y = 0.002689*X + 1.433 (R2 = 0.115) respectively. The animal experiment demonstrated LC-MS/MS method can be used to determine the postmortem
cantharidin concentration in rats liver and kidney and the determination of
cantharidin in the rats liver after death has potential value for postmortem interval estimation in
cantharidin poisoning.