Sensitive and selective determination of tetracaine and its metabolite in human samples by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

A sensitive and reliable method was developed for the determination of tetracaine and its metabolite, p-butylaminobenzoic acid, in human samples. Tetracaine and the metabolite, effectively extracted using a liquid-liquid extraction procedure from 0.5 g of sample, were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Tetracaine was analyzed without derivatization, and the metabolite was analyzed after tert- butylolimethylsilyl derivatization. Dibucaine and p-dimethylaminobenzoic acid were used as internal standards for tetracaine and the metabolite, respectively. The calibration curve for each compound was linear in the concentration range from 10 to 1000 ng/0.5 g, and the lower limits of detection were 10 ng/g for tetracaine and 0.6 ng/g for the metabolite in whole blood and tissues. The accuracy and precision of the method were evaluated in whole blood and brain at the concentrations of 50 ng/0.5 g and 500 ng/0.5 g for tetracaine and 10 ng/0.5 g and 100 ng/0.5 g for the metabolite. The coefficients of variation ranged from 0.8 to 3.0% for tetracaine and 2.4 to 9.8% for the metabolite. We used this method to determine tetracaine and its metabolite in human whole blood and tissues of an autopsied patient who died during spinal anesthesia induced by tetracaine.