Determination of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol from rabbit plasma by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry using two ionization techniques

The purpose of the study was to develop a gas chromatography–mass spectrometric (GC–MS) method for the identification and quantitation of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in rabbit plasma. Two ionization techniques were utilized for GC–MS: electron impact ionization (EI) after i.v. administration and negative chemical ionization (NCI) after sublingual administration. THC was isolated from plasma by solid phase extraction and derivatized by either trimethylsilylation (EI) or trifuoroacetylation (NCI), with deuterated THC as an internal standard. The validity of analytical method was confirmed by investigating selectivity, limit of quantitation, linearity, accuracy, precision, recovery and stability of the analyte. The method proved to be selective, linear, accurate and precise over a range of 10–430 and 0.3–530 ng/ml of THC in plasma for EI and NCI, respectively. The extraction recovery was >81% for each concentration level studied, and the analyte was shown to be stable during storage and sample preparation. The method was applied successfully in analysing THC from rabbit plasma.