Hypoglycemic agent screening by LC-MS/MS.

Hypoglycemia is a potentially life-threatening condition that can be caused by a variety of physiological conditions and pharmaceutical agents. Diagnosis of certain conditions, such as insulin-secreting tumors, requires ruling out the use (inadvertent or surreptitious) of drugs capable of inducing hypoglycemia. Many of the therapeutic agents used to treat diabetes mellitus have the ability to lower blood glucose to dangerous concentrations; these include the sulfonylurea, meglitinide, and thiazolidinedione drug classes. The LC-MS/MS assay presented herein provides qualitative or quantitative assessment of the most common of these drugs, for assistance in the differential diagnosis of hypoglycemia.