Rapid identification of herbal toxins using electrospray laser desorption ionization mass spectrometry for emergency care

Hung Su ^a, Kuan-Ting Liu ^b,c, Bai-Hsiun Chen ^d,e, Yen-Ping Lin ^a, Yu-Min Jiang ^a, Yi-Hong Tsai ^f, Fang-Rong Chang ^f,g, Jentaie Shiea ^a,h,j, Chi-Wei Lee ^i,j,*

^a Department of Chemistry, National Sun Yat-Sen University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

^b Department of Emergency Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung Medical University,

Kaohsiung, Taiwan

^c School of Medicine, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

^d Department of Laboratory Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

^e Graduate Institute of Clinical Medicine, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

^f Graduate Institute of Natural Products, College of Pharmacy, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

^g National Research Institute of Chinese Medicine, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Taipei, Taiwan

^h Department of Medicinal and Applied Chemistry, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

ⁱ Institute of Medical Science and Technology, National Sun Yat-Sen University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

^j Research Center for Environmental Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

The unintentional ingestion of toxic compounds in herbs is not uncommon in many parts of the world. To provide timely and life-saving care in the emergency department, it is essential to develop a point-of-care analytical method that can rapidly identify these toxins in herbs. Since electrospray laser desorption ionization mass spectrometry (ELDI/MS) has been successfully used to characterize non-volatile chemical compounds without sample preparation, it was used to identify toxic herbal compounds in this study. The herbal toxins were collected either by sweeping a metallic probe across the surface of a freshly cut herb section or by directly sampling extracts of ground herbal powder. The analytes on the probe were then desorbed, ionized and detected using ELDI/MS, wherein analysis of the herbal toxins was completed within 30 s. This approach allows for the rapid morphological recognition of herbs and early point-of-care identification of herbal toxins for emergency management and is promising in providing important toxicological information to ensure appropriate medical treatment.