Disposition of cannabichromene, cannabidiol, and Δ⁹-tetrahydrocannabinol and its metabolites in mouse brain following marijuana inhalation determined by high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.
A liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS-MS)method was developed for the analysis of marijuana cannabinoids in mouse brain tissue using an Applied Biosystems 3200 Q trap with a turbo V source for TurbolonSpray attached to a Shimadzu SCL HPLC system. The method included cannabichromene (CBC),cannabidiol (CBD), Δ⁹-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), 11-hydroxytetrahydrocannabinol (11-OH-THC), and 11-nor-Δ⁹-tetrahydrocannabinol-9-carboxylic acid (THC-COOH). These compounds were isolated by liquid-liquid extraction using cold acetonitrile. The following transition ions were monitored by multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mz 315>193, 315>259 for THCCBDCBC mz 331>193, 331>105 for 11-OH-THC mz 345>299, 345>193 for THC-COOH mz 318>196 for THC-d₃ mz 334>196 for 11-OH-THC-d₃, and mz 348>302 for THC-COOH-d₃. Linearity for THC, 1-OH-THC, and THC-COOH was 1-200 ngg for CBC and CBD, it was 0.5-20 ngg. Within-run and between-run precisions for all the analytes yielded coefficients of variation of < 20%. Four C57BL6 mice were sacrificed 20 min after nose-only exposure to the smoke of 200 mg of marijuana containing 0.44 mg CBC, 0.93 mg CBD, and 8.81 mg THC. The mean brain concentrations were 3.9 ± 1.5 ngg CBC, 21 ± 3.9 ngg CBD, 364 ± 74 ngg THC, and 28 ± 5.9 ngg 11-OH-THC. THC-COOH was not detected. The relative mean brain cannabinoid concentrations correlated to the amounts of the cannabinoids in the inhaled marijuana.