The MSU VDL Toxicology Section’s general organic compound screen is a popular test for veterinary clinicians, law enforcement, and animal producers attempting to evaluate an animal’s possible exposure to chemicals that may have led to an acute illness or untimely death. Results of this assay have been published (see references below) for several unique poisoning cases and have had much success in aiding the enforcement of animal cruelty laws and in ensuring food/feed safety for producers and regulators.

The most common question the Toxicology Section receives is “What do you see?” or “What can I expect that you test for?” To answer that question, in addition to being transparent about the libraries that we utilize, we have compiled a list of compounds reported by our section over the last seven years. This is not all-inclusive, but it is a start!

• The method is based on a FERN/QuEChERS extraction with both acidic and basic fractions and their trimethylsilyl derivatives introduced to a gas chromatography mass spectrometry system.
• Data analysis is performed by spectral comparisons to well-established and extensive mass spectral libraries from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (version 17) and the Wiley Registry (11 edition). These commercial libraries boast over 1 million mass spectra making them rather comprehensive for our “general” needs.
• In addition, an in-house generated library is also utilized for screening purposes as new chemicals are introduced with food, pesticides, plants, and medicinal drugs.

Buchweitz, John P., Keri Carson, Sarah Rebolloso, and Andreas Lehner. "DDT poisoning of big brown bats, Eptesicus fuscus, in Hamilton, Montana." Chemosphere 201 (2018): 1-5.

Buchweitz, John P., Douglas Mader, and Andreas F. Lehner. "Bifenthrin fatality in a canine: a case report with postmortem concentrations." Journal of analytical toxicology 43, no. 1 (2019): 72-78.