Determinación de nicotina, cotinina y cafeína por CG-NPD-EM en leche materna de puérparas atendidas en hospital "Las Higueras", Talcahuano, Chile

smoking habit, and intake of caffeine beverages during pregnancy. The simultaneous determination of nicotine, cotinine and caffeine in human milk samples was made by Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry, with a double detection system. The methodology was 2 exact, precise and lineal, with a determination coefficient (r) greater than 0,9990 for nicotine and cotinine, and 0,9970 for caffeine. We found nicotine in 19% of the samples (14,7 to 55, 2 ng/mL), cotinine in 4% (10,5 to 136,8 ng/mL) and caf feine in 25% (9 to 250 ng/mL). The application of the analytical method allowed the determination of nicotine and cotinine as biomarkers of the smoking behaviour during lactogenesis, and gave us the possibility to determine the presence of Pethidine (n=1), Methronidazole (n=1), Methamizole (n=19) and Aminophenazone (n=19) in the human milk samples analyzed, that led us to visualize this methodology as an important tool to expand future toxicological studies.