A pilot study of a novel portable mass spectrometer for rapid, simultaneous detection of multiple anesthetic drug concentrations

In the perioperative management of emergency animals, anesthetic drug-related toxicity and adverse effects pose substantial risks, and real-time quantification of anesthetic drug concentrations may provide an effective strategy for improving anesthetic safety. This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility and accuracy of a novel Cell portable mass spectrometer (MS) for the rapid detection of multiple anesthetic drug concentrations. Etomidate (ET, 1.5 mg/kg), rocuronium bromide (ROC, 5 mg/kg), and lidocaine (LID, 2 mg/kg) were administered, and plasma samples from rats were analyzed using the Cell portable MS and compared with results obtained by high-performance liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS). The Cell portable MS enabled simultaneous quantitative analysis of all three anesthetic drugs within 4.5 min and demonstrated good linearity across detection ranges. The regression equations were y = 0.01496x + 0.3136 for ET (<i>R</i> ² = 0.997), y = 1,356.03x + 12,785.42 for ROC (<i>R</i> ² = 0.991), and y = 0.01459x + 0.0067 for LID (<i>R</i> ² = 0.999). Pearson correlation analysis revealed strong correlations between Cell portable MS and HPLC-MS measurements for all three drugs (ET: <i>r</i> = 0.9666; ROC: <i>r</i> = 0.9858; LID: <i>r</i> = 0.9937; all <i>p</i> < 0.0001). Bland-Altman analysis showed small mean biases, with most data points falling within the 95% limits of agreement and no proportional bias observed. Overall, the Cell portable MS demonstrated good quantitative agreement with conventional HPLC-MS for rapid, simultaneous measurement of multiple anesthetic drug concentrations, supporting its potential for real-time anesthetic drug toxicity monitoring and individualized dosing, particularly in emergency settings.