Paper spray and direct mushroom spray mass spectrometry methods for the analysis of psycho-neurological disorder toxins

Fast screening approaches based on paper spray ionization were developed to identify psycho-neurological disorders mushrooms. Directly spraying from mushroom tissue already allowed direct identification of muscarine, psilocin, and ibotenic acid within 2-3 min. For quantitative analysis of the more challenging ibotenic acid, a new anion-exchange modified paper spray tandem mass spectrometry (AEPS-MS/MS) method was established to increase selectivity and sensitivity. The developed method was benchmarked against HPLC-MS/MS (with detection limits of 0.009 μg mL⁻¹) and could reach detection limits of 1.3 μg mL⁻¹ for ibotenic acid spiked in mushroom extract, with acceptable accuracy (−14.0 % to +5.1 %) and precision (10.8 % to 18.0 %). In addition, the developed method was compared with solid-phase extraction coupled with PS-MS/MS (with detection limits of 2.8 μg mL⁻¹). Finally, the AEPS-MS/MS was applied for the quantitative analysis of ibotenic acid in Amanita griseopantherina, matching results from HPLC-MS/MS.