The Suitability of Dried Blood Spot Sampling for Pharmacokinetic Studies in Veterinary Medicine

Dried blood spot (DBS) sampling has emerged as a promising microsampling technique in biomedical and clinical research, offering advantages such as reduced invasiveness, minimal blood volume requirements, and enhanced analyte stability. Although well established in human medicine for neonatal screening and diagnostic applications, its potential in veterinary pharmacology remains underexplored. This study investigated the feasibility of using DBS samples to quantify anesthetic agents—ketamine and medetomidine in cats and lidocaine in horses—during routine surgical procedures at a veterinary teaching hospital. A standardized DBS collection protocol was developed, and LC-MS/MS methods were validated for the quantification of target analytes in both DBS and plasma samples. These methods were subsequently applied to real samples collected during anesthesia to conduct pharmacokinetic analyses. Comparative evaluations, including Bland–Altman analysis, assessed the suitability of DBS samples for pharmacokinetic studies in veterinary medicine. Preliminary results indicated satisfactory agreement for medetomidine, meeting EMA guidelines, with 75.6% of mean values falling within ±20% of paired measurements. Results for ketamine (46.9%) were promising but require further optimization, while those for lidocaine (21.4%) highlighted the need for additional investigation. These findings underscore the potential of DBS sampling as a minimally invasive alternative for pharmacokinetic studies in veterinary medicine, particularly for medetomidine, while identifying areas for further methodological refinement. Future research should optimize DBS techniques and expand their application to other drugs and species, broadening their impact on veterinary pharmacology.