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Steuer AE, Bavato F, Schnider LK, Dornbierer DA, Bosch OG, Quednow BB, Seifritz E, Steuer C, Kraemer T. Urinary concentrations of GHB and its novel amino acid and carnitine conjugates following controlled GHB administration to humans. Sci Rep 2023; 13:8983. [PMID: 37268859 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-36213-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/17/2023] [Accepted: 05/31/2023] [Indexed: 06/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) remains a challenging clinical/forensic toxicology drug. Its rapid elimination to endogenous levels mainly causes this. Especially in drug-facilitated sexual assaults, sample collection often occurs later than the detection window for GHB. We aimed to investigate new GHB conjugates with amino acids (AA), fatty acids, and its organic acid metabolites for their suitability as ingestion/application markers in urine following controlled GHB administration to humans. We used LC-MS/MS for validated quantification of human urine samples collected within two randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled crossover studies (GHB 50 mg/kg, 79 participants) at approximately 4.5, 8, 11, and 28 h after intake. We found significant differences (placebo vs. GHB) for all but two analytes at 4.5 h. Eleven hours post GHB administration, GHB, GHB-AAs, 3,4-dihydroxybutyric acid, and glycolic acid still showed significantly higher concentrations; at 28 h only GHB-glycine. Three different discrimination strategies were evaluated: (a) GHB-glycine cut-off concentration (1 µg/mL), (b) metabolite ratios of GHB-glycine/GHB (2.5), and (c) elevation threshold between two urine samples (> 5). Sensitivities were 0.1, 0.3, or 0.5, respectively. Only GHB-glycine showed prolonged detection over GHB, mainly when compared to a second time- and subject-matched urine sample (strategy c).
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrea E Steuer
- Department of Forensic Pharmacology and Toxicology, Zurich Institute of Forensic Medicine, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190/52, 8057, Zurich, Switzerland.
| | - Francesco Bavato
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, Psychiatric University Hospital Zurich, University of Zurich, 8032, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Laura K Schnider
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, Psychiatric University Hospital Zurich, University of Zurich, 8032, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Dario A Dornbierer
- Department of Forensic Pharmacology and Toxicology, Zurich Institute of Forensic Medicine, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190/52, 8057, Zurich, Switzerland
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, Psychiatric University Hospital Zurich, University of Zurich, 8032, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Oliver G Bosch
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, Psychiatric University Hospital Zurich, University of Zurich, 8032, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Boris B Quednow
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, Psychiatric University Hospital Zurich, University of Zurich, 8032, Zurich, Switzerland
- Neuroscience Center Zurich, University of Zurich and Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, 8057, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Erich Seifritz
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, Psychiatric University Hospital Zurich, University of Zurich, 8032, Zurich, Switzerland
- Neuroscience Center Zurich, University of Zurich and Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, 8057, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Christian Steuer
- Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, 8093, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Thomas Kraemer
- Department of Forensic Pharmacology and Toxicology, Zurich Institute of Forensic Medicine, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190/52, 8057, Zurich, Switzerland
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Steuer AE, Sutter L, Steuer C, Kraemer T. New gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) biomarkers: Development and validation of a liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method for the determination of GHB amino acid, carnitine, and fatty acid conjugates in urine. Drug Test Anal 2022; 15:426-443. [PMID: 36562189 DOI: 10.1002/dta.3430] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/21/2022] [Revised: 12/02/2022] [Accepted: 12/21/2022] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
Gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) represents an important drug in clinical and forensic toxicology, particularly in the context of drug-facilitated crimes. Analytically, GHB remains a major challenge given its endogenous occurrence and short detection window. Previous studies identified a number of potential interesting novel conjugates of GHB with carnitine, amino acids (AA, glutamate, glycine, and taurine), or fatty acids. As a basis for comprehensive studies on the suitability of these novel biomarkers, we developed and validated a liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method in human urine. Additionally, already known markers 2,4-dihydroxy butyric acid (2,4-DHB), 3,4-DHB, glycolic acid, succinic acid, succinylcarnitine, and GHB glucuronide were included. The method was fully validated according to (inter)national guidelines. Synthetic urine proved suitable as a surrogate matrix for calibration. Matrix effects were observed for all analytes with suppression effects of about 50% at QC LOW, and approximately 20% to 40% at QC HIGH, but with consistent standard deviation of <25% at QC LOW and <15% at QC HIGH, respectively. All analytes showed acceptable intra- and inter-day imprecision of below 20%, except for inter-day variation of GHB taurine and FA conjugates at the lowest QC. Preliminary applicability studies proved the usefulness of the method and pointed towards GHB glycine, followed by other AA conjugates as the most promising candidates to improve GHB detection. FA conjugates were not detected in urine samples yet. The method can be used now for comprehensive sample analysis on (controlled) GHB administration to prove the usefulness of the novel GHB biomarkers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrea E Steuer
- Department of Forensic Pharmacology and Toxicology, Zurich Institute of Forensic Medicine, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Linda Sutter
- Department of Forensic Pharmacology and Toxicology, Zurich Institute of Forensic Medicine, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Christian Steuer
- Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Thomas Kraemer
- Department of Forensic Pharmacology and Toxicology, Zurich Institute of Forensic Medicine, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
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