Solid-phase microextraction for the analysis of biological samples

Solid-phase microextraction (SPME) has been introduced for the extraction o f organic compounds from environmental samples. This relatively new extract ion technique has now also gained a lot of interest in a broad field of ana lysis including food, biological and pharmaceutical samples. SPME has a num ber of advantages such as simplicity, low cost, compatibility with analytic al systems, automation and the solvent-free extraction. The last few years, SPME has been combined with liquid chromatography and capillary electropho resis, besides the generally used coupling to gas chromatography, and has b een applied to various biological samples such as, e.g., urine, plasma and hair. The objective of the present paper is a survey of the application of SPME for the analysis of biological samples. Papers about the analysis of b iologically active compounds are categorised and reviewed. The impact of SP ME on various analytical fields (toxicological, forensic, clinical, biochem ical, pharmaceutical, and natural products) is illustrated. The main featur es of SPME and its modes are briefly described and important aspects about its application for the determination of pharmaceuticals, drugs of abuse an d compounds of clinical and toxicological interest are discussed. SPME is c ompared with other sample pretreatment techniques. The potential of SPME an d its main advantages are demonstrated. Special attention is paid to new tr ends in applications of SPME in bioanalysis. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.