OCCUPATION AND HEALTH ›› 2025, Vol. 41 ›› Issue (11): 1477-1482.

• Treatise • Previous Articles     Next Articles

UPLC-Q-TOF rapid qualitative and quantitative screening for an aconitum poisoning event

KOU Jinchan1, SUN Mingyue1, ZHOU Rongui2, LIN Ji3   

  1. 1. School of Public Health, Dali University, Dali, Yunnan 671000, China;
    2. School of Public Health, Kunming Medical University, Kunming, Yunnan 650500, China;
    3. Physical and Chemical Laboratory, Yunnan Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Kunming, Yunnan 650032, China
  • Received:2024-09-04 Revised:2024-09-19 Published:2025-12-12
  • Contact: Corresponding autherLIN Ji,Chief technician,E-maillinji666@163,com

Abstract: Objective To conduct an epidemiological investigation on a suspected case of aconitine poisoning in Shilin County of Yunnan Province,and to perform rapid qualitative and quantitative detection of aconitine compounds in the collected samples. Methods On December 27,2023,a mass food poisoning incident occurred in Shilin County of Yunnan Province,and on January 2,2024,the Yunnan Center for Disease Control and Prevention received the samples and extracted the aconitine compounds in the samples by ultrasonic extraction,and used ultra-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry to select C18(2.1 mm×100 mm,1.8 μm) chromatography column in positive mode for substance separation. Methyl cyanide(B) and 5 mmol/L ammonium acetate-0.1% methane acid water(A) were selected as gradient elution mobile phases,with a column temperature of 40 ℃ and a flow rate of 0.3 mL/min. The precise molecular weight and secondary mass spectrometry of each substance were used for rapid screening of leftover food,blood,and urine. Results In the concentration range of 5.0-500 ng/mL,the linear correlation coefficients of 13 standards were all greater than 0.993,and the relative standard deviation(RSD) of stability was ≤2.44%. The recovery rates of the three samples under spiked conditions were between 75.4%-111.9%,and the RSD of precision was ≤2.88%. Benzoyl hypoaconitine,benzoyl neoaconitine,benzoyl aconitine,Yunnan aconitine and oxaconitin were detected in the leftover meals,with concentrations of 0.21,0.33,0.60,0.20,and 5.31 mg/kg,respectively. Conclusion The poisoning incident was caused by excessive consumption of aconitine stew soup. This detection method has high sensitivity and good stability,and is suitable for the detection of toxins in aconitum plants.

Key words: Ultra-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole-time-of-flight, Rapid screening, Aconitine poisoning