A rapid LC-
MS/MS
method was developed for the quantitative deter
mination of grayanotoxins I,II, and III in ru
men contents, feces, and urine. The grayanotoxins were extracted fro
m solid sa
mpleswith
methanol. The
methanol extract was diluted with water and cleaned up using a reversed phasesolid phase extraction colu
mn. HPLC separation was perfor
med by reversed phase HPLC using agradient of water and
methanol containing 1% acetic acid. Deter
mination was by positive ionelectrospray ionization and ion trap tande
m mass spectro
metry. Grayanotoxin I quantitation wasbased on frag
mentation of the sodiu
m adduct ion at
m/
z 435 to a product ion at
m/
z 375.Grayanotoxins II and III were quantitated on the basis of frag
mentation of the ion at
m/
z 335 tothe product ion at
m/
z 299. The
method detection li
mits were 0.2
![](/i<font color=)
mages/entities/
mgr.gif">g/g in ru
men contents and fecesand 0.05
![](/i<font color=)
mages/entities/
mgr.gif">g/g in urine. Fortifications at the detection li
mits and 10 ti
mes the detection li
mits ofbovine ru
men contents, caprine feces, and ovine urine were recovered in the range 80-114%. Thediagnostic utility of the
method was tested by analyzing sa
mples sub
mitted to the veterinarytoxicology laboratory.Keywords: Grayanotoxin; HPLC;
mass spectro
metry; LC-MS