Electromembrane Extraction (EME) is an innovative sample preparation technique that utilises an electric potential to selectively extract ionised analytes across a supported liquid membrane (SLM) from an aqueous donor solution into an aqueous acceptor solution. This approach offers potential advantages over traditional techniques such as Liquid-Liquid Extraction (LLE) and Solid Phase Extraction (SPE), particularly in terms of extraction efficiency and selectivity as well as reduced solvent and consumable consumption.
Although well-established in other fields, it’s potential in the anti-doping landscape remains largely unexplored. This presentation introduces EME initially as a novel approach for confirmatory analysis of medications and prohibited substances in plasma and urine samples. The technique’s ability to rapidly isolate charged analytes with minimal pre-treatment presents a promising alternative to conventional methods that can be time-consuming and resource intensive.
Method development and validation data will be shared, demonstrating that EME achieves comparable, and in some cases superior, performance to LLE and SPE in the areas of extraction recovery, selectivity and reproducibility. Additionally, the benefits of EME from a process efficiency viewpoint will be highlighted, with significantly reduced sample and solvent volumes, and streamlined processing times. We present case studies where EME has been successfully applied to confirm the presence of specific compounds in both equine plasma and urine and canine urine. These examples highlight not only the practical feasibility of the method, but also its contribution to increasing analytical throughput without compromising the robustness and reliability required in regulatory environments.
This work represents the first application of EME for equine and canine medication and doping control, demonstrating its potential to become a valuable tool in the arsenal of anti-doping laboratories, and lays the groundwork for broader adoption of the technique into routine regulatory testing.