Hair analysis for drugs of abuse. VIII. Effective extraction and determination of 6-acetylmorphine and morphine in hair with trifluoroacetic acid-methanol for the confirmation of retrospective heroin use by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

Performance of Hair Testing for Cocaine Use-Comparison of Five Laboratories Using Blind Reference Specimens

The purpose of this study was to compare results from five commercial hair testing laboratories conducting workplace drug testing with regard to bias, precision, selectivity and decontamination efficiency. Nine blind hair specimens, including cocaine-positive drug user specimens (some contaminated with methamphetamine) and negative specimens contaminated with cocaine, were submitted in up to five replicates to five different laboratories. All laboratories correctly identified cocaine in all specimens from drug users. For an undamaged hair specimen from a cocaine user, within-laboratory Coefficients of Variation (CVs) of 5-22% (median 8%) were reported, showing that it is possible to produce a homogenous proficiency testing sample from drug user hair. Larger CVs were reported for specimens composed of blended hair (up to 29%) and curly/damaged hair (19-67%). Quantitative results appeared to be method-dependent, and the reported cocaine concentrations varied up to 5-fold between the laboratories, making interlaboratory comparisons difficult. All laboratories reported at least one positive result in specimens contaminated with cocaine powder, followed by sweat and shampoo treatments. Benzoylecgonine, norcocaine, cocaethylene and hydroxylated cocaine metabolites were all detected in cocaine powder-contaminated specimens. This indicates that current industry standards for analyzing and reporting positive cocaine results are not completely effective at identifying external contamination. Metabolite ratios between meta- or para-hydroxy-cocaine and cocaine were 6- and 10-fold lower in contaminated specimens compared to those observed in cocaine user specimens, supporting their potential use in distinguishing samples positive due to contamination and drug use.

Systematic assessment of different solvents for the extraction of drugs of abuse and pharmaceuticals from an authentic hair pool

Hair analysis has been established as a prevalent tool for retrospective drug monitoring. In this study, different extraction solvents for the determination of drugs of abuse and pharmaceuticals in hair were evaluated for their efficiency. A pool of authentic hair from drug users was used for extraction experiments. Hair was pulverized and extracted in triplicate with seven different solvents in a one- or two-step extraction. Three one- (methanol, acetonitrile, and acetonitrile/water) and four two-step extractions (methanol two-fold, methanol and methanol/acetonitrile/formate buffer, methanol and methanol/formate buffer, and methanol and methanol/hydrochloric acid) were tested under accurately equal experimental conditions. The extracts were directly analyzed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry for opiates/opioids, stimulants, ketamine, selected benzodiazepines, antidepressants, antipsychotics, and antihistamines using deuterated internal standards. For most analytes, a two-step extraction with methanol did not significantly improve the yield compared to a one-step extraction with methanol. Extraction with acetonitrile alone was least efficient for most analytes. Extraction yields of acetonitrile/water, methanol and methanol/acetonitrile/formate buffer, and methanol and methanol/formate buffer were significantly higher compared to methanol. Highest efficiencies were obtained by a two-step extraction with methanol and methanol/hydrochloric acid, particularly for morphine, 6-monoacetylmorphine, codeine, 6-acetylcodeine, MDMA, zopiclone, zolpidem, amitriptyline, nortriptyline, citalopram, and doxylamine. For some analytes (e.g., tramadol, fluoxetine, sertraline), all extraction solvents, except for acetonitrile, were comparably efficient. There was no significant correlation between extraction efficiency with an acidic solvent and the pka or log P of the analyte. However, there was a significant trend for the extraction efficiency with acetonitrile to the log P of the analyte. The study demonstrates that the choice of extraction solvent has a strong impact on hair analysis outcomes. Therefore, validation protocols should include the evaluation of extraction efficiency of drugs by using authentic rather than spiked hair. Different extraction procedures may contribute to the scatter of quantitative results in inter-laboratory comparisons. Harmonization of extraction protocols is recommended, when interpretation is based on same cut-off levels.

Hair as a Biological Indicator of Drug Use, Drug Abuse or Chronic Exposure to Environmental Toxicants

In recent years hair has become a fundamental biological specimen, alternative to the usual samples blood and urine, for drug testing in the fields of forensic toxicology, clinical toxicology and clinical chemistry. Moreover, hair-testing is now extensively used in workplace testing, as well as, on legal cases, historical research etc. This article reviews methodological and practical issues related to the application of hair as a biological indicator of drug use/abuse or of chronic exposure to environmental toxicants. Hair structure and the mechanisms of drug incorporation into it are commented. The usual preparation and extraction methods as well as the analytical techniques of hair samples are presented and commented on. The outcomes of hair analysis have been reviewed for the following categories: drugs of abuse (opiates, cocaine and related, amphetamines, cannabinoids), benzodiazepines, prescribed drugs, pesticides and organic pollutants, doping agents and other drugs or substances. Finally, the specific purpose of the hair testing is discussed along with the interpretation of hair analysis results regarding the limitations of the applied procedures.

Hair as an alternative matrix in bioanalysis

Alternative matrices are steadily gaining recognition as biological samples for toxicological analyses. Hair presents many advantages over traditional matrices, such as urine and blood, since it provides retrospective information regarding drug exposure, can distinguish between chronic and acute or recent drug use by segmental analysis, is easy to obtain, and has considerable stability for long periods of time. For this reason, it has been employed in a wide variety of contexts, namely to evaluate workplace drug exposure, drug-facilitated sexual assault, pre-natal drug exposure, anti-doping control, pharmacological monitoring and alcohol abuse. In this article, issues concerning hair structure, collection, storage and analysis are reviewed. The mechanisms of drug incorporation into hair are briefly discussed. Analytical techniques for simultaneous drug quantification in hair are addressed. Finally, representative examples of drug quantification using hair are summarized, emphasizing its potentialities and limitations as an alternative biological matrix for toxicological analyses.

Simultaneous quantitative determination of amphetamines, ketamine, opiates and metabolites in human hair by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry

A gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) method was developed and validated for the determination of common drugs of abuse in Asia. The method was able to simultaneously quantify amphetamines (amphetamine; AP, methamphetamine; MA, methylenedioxy amphetamine; MDA, methylenedioxymeth mphetamine; MDMA, methylenedioxy ethylamphetamine; MDEA), ketamine (ketamine; K, norketamine; NK), and opiates (morphine; MOR, codeine; COD, 6-acetylmorphine; 6-AM) in human hair. Hair samples (25 mg) were washed, cut, and incubated overnight at 25 degrees C in methanol/trifluoroacetic acid (methanol/TFA). The samples were extracted by solid-phase extraction (SPE), derivatized using heptafluorobutyric acid anhydride (HFBA) at 70 degrees C for 30 min, and the derivatives were analyzed by electron ionization (EI) GC/MS in selected ion monitoring mode. Confirmation was accomplished by comparing retention times and the relative abundances of selected ions with those of standards. Deuterated analogs of the analytes were used as internal standards for quantification. Calibration curves for ten analytes were established in the concentration range 0.1-10 ng/mg with high correlation coefficients (r2 > 0.999). The intra-day and inter-day precisions were within 12.1% and 15.8%, respectively. The intra-day and inter-day accuracies were between -8.7% and 10.7%, and between -5.9% and 13.8%, respectively. The limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) obtained were 0.03 and 0.05 ng/mg for AP, MA, MDA, MDMA and MDEA; 0.05 and 0.08 ng/mg for K, NK, MOR and COD; and 0.08 and 0.1 ng/mg for 6-AM. The recoveries were above 88.6% for all the compounds, except K and NK which were in the range of 71.7-72.7%. Eight hair samples from known polydrug abusers were examined by this method. These results show that the method is suitable for broad-spectrum drug testing in a single hair specimen.

Analytical pitfalls in hair testing

This review focuses on possible pitfalls in hair testing procedures. Knowledge of such pitfalls is useful when developing and validating methods, since it can be used to avoid wrong results as well as wrong interpretations of correct results. In recent years, remarkable advances in sensitive and specific analytical techniques have enabled the analysis of drugs in alternative biological specimens such as hair. Modern analytical procedures for the determination of drugs in hair specimens - mainly by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) - are reviewed and critically discussed. Many tables containing information related to this topic are provided.

Morphine and its metabolites: Analytical methodologies for its determination

The present article reviews the methods of determination published for morphine and its metabolites covering the period from 1980 until at the first part of 2006. The overview includes the most relevant analytical determinations classified in the following two types: (1) non-chromatographic methods and (2) chromatographic methods.

New trends in hair analysis and scientific demands on validation and technical notes

This review focuses on basic aspects of method development and validation of hair testing procedures. Quality assurance is a major issue in drug testing in hair resulting in new recommendations, validation procedures and inter-laboratory comparisons. Furthermore recent trends in research concerning hair analysis are discussed, namely mechanisms of drug incorporation and retention, novel analytical procedures (especially ones using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) and alternative sample preparation techniques like solid-phase microextraction (SPME)), the determination of THC-COOH in hair samples, hair testing in drug-facilitated crimes, enantioselective hair testing procedures and the importance of hair analysis in clinical trials. Hair testing in analytical toxicology is still an area in need of further research.

Screening for drugs of abuse in hair with ion spray LC-MS-MS

Analyzing hair for many substances can be tedious and expensive, and a rapid screening method should prove helpful. Generally, screening has been performed using immunological tests, mainly in workplace drug testing, where the number of samples has been high. The aim of this study was to develop an LC-MS-MS method for the simultaneous analysis of several drugs of abuse in human hair as an alternative to immunological screening tests. In 75 randomly selected autopsy cases, hair was analyzed in addition to the usual specimens of blood and urine. The method included nicotine, cotinine, morphine, codeine, 6-acetylmorphine, ethylmorphine, amphetamine, methamphetamine, MDA, MDMA, benzoylecgonine, cocaine, 7-aminoflunitrazepam and diazepam. The LC-MS-MS analysis was performed on a SCIEX API 2000 MS-MS instrument equipped with an electrospray interface. To 20-50 mg of hair, 0.5 ml of mobile phase A (acetonitril:methanol:20 mM formate buffer, pH 3.0 (10:10:80)) and 25 microl of internal standard were added and the sample was incubated in a water bath at 37 degrees C during 18 h. Using a threshold of 20 ng/sample, equivalent to 1 ng/mg if 20mg hair is used, 26 positive results were found in 16 cases. Three of the 26 positive detections could not be confirmed by GC-MS. Two of the cases were not previously known as drug users. Of the 59 negative cases, only one case had a positive blood sample showing 0.01 and 0.07 microg/g femoral blood of 6-acetylmorphine and morphine, respectively. This might indicate drug abstinence resulting in decreased tolerance or even a "first time" use of heroin resulting in death. We conclude that the use of hair analysis in postmortem cases can reveal both unknown drug use, as well as confirm a period of drug abstinence prior to an acute fatal overdose. The proposed LC-MS-MS method showed high sensitivity, was very easy to perform and seemed appropriate for screening purposes.

Detection of enrofloxacin and its metabolite ciprofloxacin in equine hair

Hair analysis to detect drug administration has not been studied extensively in horses. This study aimed to (a) develop an analytical method for enrofloxacin and its metabolite ciprofloxacin in mane and tail hair, (b) relate measured values to doses, routes of administration, hair colour, and (c) demonstrate long-term detectability. Samples were extracted in trifluoroacetic acid at 70 degrees C. Extracts were cleaned-up by solid-phase extraction and analysed by high-performance liquid chromatography with UV-diode array detection. Analyte recoveries were > 87%. Horses were sampled after therapeutic enrofloxacin administration either orally at 7.5 mg/kg daily for 3-13 days or twice daily for 10-14 days (Group 1, n=7) or intravenously at 5.0 mg/kg daily for 12 and 15 days (Group 2, n=2). Enrofloxacin and ciprofloxacin were detected at concentrations up to 452 and 19 ng/mg, respectively, up to 10 months post-treatment. In vitro, enrofloxacin and ciprofloxacin were extensively bound to melanin (> 96%) and in vivo, their uptake was 40-fold greater in black than white hair. Enrofloxacin and ciprofloxacin concentrations correlated to enrofloxacin dose (r2=0.777 and r2=0.769). Enrofloxacin:ciprofloxacin ratios were 21:1 and 13:1 following intravenous and oral administration, respectively. Longitudinal analyte distributions correlated to treatment-sampling interval.

Screening for drugs of abuse in hair with ion spray LC–MS–MS

Analyzing hair for many substances can be tedious and expensive, and a rapid screening method should prove helpful. Generally, screening has been performed using immunological tests, mainly in workplace drug testing, where the number of samples has been high. The aim of this study was to develop an LC-MS-MS method for the simultaneous analysis of several drugs of abuse in human hair as an alternative to immunological screening tests. In 75 randomly selected autopsy cases, hair was analyzed in addition to the usual specimens of blood and urine. The method included nicotine, cotinine, morphine, codeine, 6-acetylmorphine, ethylmorphine, amphetamine, methamphetamine, MDA, MDMA, benzoylecgonine, cocaine, 7-aminoflunitrazepam and diazepam. The LC-MS-MS analysis was performed on a SCIEX API 2000 MS-MS instrument equipped with an electrospray interface. To 20-50 mg of hair, 0.5 ml of mobile phase A (acetonitril:methanol:20 mM formate buffer, pH 3.0 (10:10:80)) and 25 microl of internal standard were added and the sample was incubated in a water bath at 37 degrees C during 18 h. Using a threshold of 20 ng/sample, equivalent to 1 ng/mg if 20mg hair is used, 26 positive results were found in 16 cases. Three of the 26 positive detections could not be confirmed by GC-MS. Two of the cases were not previously known as drug users. Of the 59 negative cases, only one case had a positive blood sample showing 0.01 and 0.07 microg/g femoral blood of 6-acetylmorphine and morphine, respectively. This might indicate drug abstinence resulting in decreased tolerance or even a "first time" use of heroin resulting in death. We conclude that the use of hair analysis in postmortem cases can reveal both unknown drug use, as well as confirm a period of drug abstinence prior to an acute fatal overdose. The proposed LC-MS-MS method showed high sensitivity, was very easy to perform and seemed appropriate for screening purposes.

Optimized conditions for simultaneous determination of opiates, cocaine and benzoylecgonine in hair samples by GC–MS

The present paper describes a qualitative and quantitative method for the simultaneous detection of opiates, cocaine and benzoylecgonine from human hair samples. Every step of the analytical procedure was studied to find the optimized conditions. Nine different incubation systems were examined. The influence of different pH values of samples on the isolation of analytes from the incubation media by Bond Elut cartridges and the stability of the compounds of interest in the different incubation media and conditions were investigated. The extracting power of different incubation media was studied as well. The phosphate buffer 0.1 N at pH 5 was chosen as the extraction medium in an optimized procedure for simultaneous determination of opiates, cocaine and benzoylecgonine in hair samples. The method developed was validated. Recoveries were 90% for morphine (M), 81% for 6-monoacetylmorphine (6-AM), 90% for codeine (CD), 86% for cocaine (C) and 90% for benzoylecgonine (BE). Relative standard deviation for inter-day precision was better than 12%. The limits of detection resulted as 0.05 ng/mg for M and C, as 0.08 for 6-AM and as 0.2 ng/mg for BE. Forty hair samples collected from drug abusers admitted to centers for detoxification treatment were analyzed obtaining 23 positive results for opiates and/or cocaine. Twelve hair specimens longer than 10 cm were analyzed following a sectional approach. In the six positive cases, it was interesting to find that the 6-AM/M ratio generally decreased for each sample from the proximal segment to the distal segments. Moreover, the 6-AM/M ratio was generally lower than 1 in the intermediate and distal segments.

Hair analysis for opiates: evaluation of washing and incubation procedures

Hair analysis of drugs of abuse has been a subject of interest from a clinical, social and forensic perspective for years because of the broad time detection window after intake in comparison to urine or blood. However, the correct and reliable interpretation of opiates findings in an authentic hair sample requires optimalisation and standardisation of decontamination and incubation procedures. Comparing various published methods, we have found some variability in them and no unequivocal recommended procedure for starting with a method directly. Therefore, various combinations of solvents, of various polarity, as washing solvents were tested for removing opiates from the external surface of real hair samples. The yields of opiates from these washings were compared with the yields from the interior of the hair matrix after digestion with various procedures. The opiates after digestion were cleaned up from resulting solution on extraction columns with mixed solid-phase and analysed by GC-MS in standard EI mode after silylation. The efficiencies of neutral (Söerensen buffer, pH 7.4), acid (0.1 M HCl) and basic (1 M NaOH) digestion of the hair matrix were evaluated and the relative recoveries for morphine, codeine, dihydrocodeine and hydrocodone were compared. As it is very problematic to imitate the reference hair sample with a specific amount of analytes incorporated inside, which can be used for calibration to get a close estimate of the quantities of analytes inside the solid authentic sample, the total digestion of a hair sample in basic medium was considered to be a very important reference basis for quantitative determinations. The ratios of hydrolysis of labile 6-acetylmorphine or acetylcodeine were tested and evaluated in practical routine conditions of acid or neutral digestion of hair. Comparing the three methods of incubation of authentic hair samples, the methods using 1 M NaOH or 0.1 M HCl yielded higher recoveries of total equivalents of morphine or codeine, whereas the incubation in Söerensen buffer allowed the reflection of real ratios of labile metabolites and/or parent compounds in an original sample. This method has been shown to be capable of detecting hydrocodone in hair with other opiates concomitantly and to indicate the drug abuse pattern of a person at various time intervals in the past.

A study into the rate of incorporation of eight benzodiazepines into rat hair

The incorporation of eight benzodiazepines (chlordiazepoxide, diazepam, estazolam, flunitrazepam, flurazepam, medazepam, oxazepam and triazolam) into rat hair was investigated by HPLC and GC-MS. Each of the benzodiazepines was injected daily into three Dark Agouti (DA) rats for 10 days at 10mg/kg. The back hair of the rats was removed by shaving prior to the first injection and again on the 28th day after the initial administration. To investigate optimum extraction conditions, 10mg aliquots of rat hair incorporated with diazepam, flurazepam or medazepam were extracted by seven different methods (Proteinase K, methanol-ammonia, methanol-trifluoroacetic acid, Soerensens buffer, 1M NaOH, beta-glucuronidase/arylsulfatase, Biopurase). The method found to yield the highest recoveries, for all three drugs, was the acidic methanol extraction. Using this extraction procedure, the incorporation rates (ICR: the ratio of the hair concentration to the plasma AUC) of eight benzodiazepines into rat hair were investigated. The ICRs ranged from 0.002 (flunitrazepam) to 0.049 (flurazepam). The major metabolites of flurazepam were investigated in rat hair. The mean hair concentrations of desalkylflurazepam and 2-hydroxyethylflurazepam were 3.31 and 0.05 ng/mg, respectively, which are 24 and 0.36% of the parent compound in hair.

Hair analysis for pharmaceutical drugs. I. Effective extraction and determination of phenobarbital, phenytoin and their major metabolites in rat and human hair

In order to establish an analytical method for the determination of phenobarbital (PB), phenytoin (PPH) and their hydroxylated metabolites in hair, animal model experiments were performed. Five male dark-agouti pigmented rats, aged 5 weeks, were intraperitoneally and orally administered PB or PPH independently at 25 mg/kg once a day for 5 successive days. The growing back hair was collected 15d after the first administration. Four typical extraction methods, using NH4OH-methanol-acetone, TFA-methanol-acetone, 1M sodium hydroxide and proteinase K, were evaluated using the rat hair samples containing PB or PPH. Methanol-acetone-NH4OH (10: 10: 1) was the best extraction method from all aspects, such as high extraction efficiency and low noise. The analytes in the extract were methylated in acetonitrile with 20% tetramethylammonium hydroxide and methyliodide at 70 degrees C for 10 min. After purification with Bond Elut Certify, the methylated products were analyzed by GC-MS. From rat hair, PB, p-hydroxy PB, PPH and p-hydroxy PPH were detected at average concentrations of 26.9, trace, 4.2 and 0.4 ng/mg with an intraperitoneal (i.p.) injection, and at 30.9, trace, 4.0 and 0.4 ng/mg with oral administration, respectively. There was little difference in hair concentrations between i.p. injection and oral administration. This method was applied to the head hair of two patients who orally took toxic amounts of PB and two volunteers who orally took 100 mg of PPH daily for 5 d. The hair concentrations of PB in the two patients were 16.2 and 14.7 ng/mg, and those of PPH in the two volunteers were 3.3 and 0.1 ng/mg.

Hair analysis for abused and therapeutic drugs

This review focuses on basic aspects and recent studies of hair analysis for abused and therapeutic drugs and is discussed with 164 references. Firstly, biology of hair and sampling of hair specimens have been commented for the sake of correct interpretation of the results from hair analysis. Then the usual washing methods of hair samples and the extraction methods for drugs in hair have been shown and commented on. Analytical methods for each drug have been discussed by the grouping of three analytical methods, namely immunoassay, HPLC-CE and GC-MS. The outcomes of hair analysis studies have been reviewed by dividing into six groups; morphine and related, cocaine and related, amphetamines, cannabinoids, the other abused drugs and therapeutic drugs. In addition, reports on stability of drugs in the living hair and studies on drug incorporation into hair and dose-hair concentration relationships have been reviewed. Applications of hair analysis to the estimation of drug history, discrimination between OTC drug use and illegal drug use, drug testing for acute poisoning, gestational drug exposure and drug compliance have also been reviewed. Finally, the promising prospects of hair analysis have been described.

Detection of fluoxetine in brain, blood, liver and hair of rats using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

This study reports the measurements of fluoxetine in discrete brain regions, blood, liver and hair of male rats injected with 10 mg/kg fluoxetine HCl for 15 consecutive days. Concentrations of the antidepressant were obtained by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) methodology. In brain, fluoxetine levels were unevenly distributed, with the raphé nucleus containing the highest amounts relative to the hypothalamus or striatum. Fluoxetine was also measured in blood and liver roughly paralleling those ratios described in previous rodent studies. Of potential interest, fluoxetine was found to accumulate in rat hair after chronic treatment. Detection of fluoxetine in hair by GC-MS could be used as a marker for probative analyses.

Immunological screening of drugs of abuse and gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric confirmation of opiates and cocaine in hair

The work presents an analytical strategy to detect drugs of abuse in hair. It involves two sequential steps: a screening by a simple enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) methodology to detect opiates, cocaine and its metabolites, and benzodiacepines, followed by confirmation of opiates and cocaine metabolites in positive samples by gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC-MS). In the same GC-MS run other drugs for substitution therapy (e.g. methadone and its main metabolite) can also be detected. After a double washing of hair samples with dichloromethane, hair specimens were cut into small pieces and 10 mg samples were incubated in 2 ml of methanol-trifluoroacetic acid (9:1) mixture, overnight at 37 degrees C. Aliquots of the extract were then evaporated, reconstituted in buffer and analysed according to the ELISA procedure. Confirmation involved solid-phase extraction of another fraction of the extract kept at -20 degrees C, derivatization with heptafluorobutyric anhydride and hexafluoroisopropanol and detection of cocaine, benzoylecgonine, ecgonine methylester, cocaethylene, morphine, codeine, 6-monoacetylmorphine, methadone and 2-ethylidene-1.5-dimethyl-3,3-diphenylpirrolidine (methadone metabolite) by selective ion monitoring after gas chromatographic separation. During the development of the method it was verified that no more than 10% of cocaine, opiates and benzodiacepines were lost when dichloromethane was used to wash real samples. The results also confirmed the increase of extractability power of TFA when it was added to methanol: the recovery for the analytes (cocaine and its metabolites and opiates) added to methanol-TFA alone was of the order of 90% except for benzoylecgonine (75%), and the recovery for the analytes added to methanol-TFA extract of drug-free hair was about 90% for all analytes except for benzoylecgonine and 6-MAM (around 70%). Regarding the stability of labile compounds, only small amounts of ecgonine methylester (2.3%) and morphine (7.2%) were produced, from cocaine and 6-MAM respectively, after the whole extraction procedure and two weeks of storage of methanol-TFA extracts at -20 degrees C. Satisfactory results were obtained when the procedures were applied to the analysis of external proficiency testing hair samples and actual specimens from drug addicts.

Determination of morphine in urine by solid-phase immunoextraction and high-performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection

The analysis of morphine in biological fluids is of vital interest in monitoring opiate abuse and in drug abuse research. Although methods for analysis of morphine and its metabolites are well established, studies are still being carried out to improve sample preparation procedures as well as detection levels of morphine in biological samples. In this study, morphine-specific immunosorbents were developed to concentrate morphine prior to HPLC analysis. Urine (0.1 ml) was diluted 10-fold with phosphate-buffered saline, pH 7.4 (PBS), loaded onto a solid-phase immunoextraction column and washed with 15 ml PBS followed by elution with 2 ml of elution buffer (40% ethanol in PBS, pH 4). The eluted fraction was analysed for morphine by HPLC-electrochemical detection using a cyanopropyl (CN) analytical column with 25% acetonitrile in phosphate buffer-sodium lauryl sulphate, pH 2.4 as the mobile phase. Duration of the extraction procedure was approximately 40 min. Calibration graphs were linear from 100 ng ml-1 to 500 ng ml-1 in urine. The inter-assay R.S.D. was < 10% and the recovery of morphine from urine was > 98%. Immunocolumns demonstrated remarkably high specificity towards morphine showing minimal binding with other opiate metabolites such as codeine, normorphine, norcodeine, morphine-3-glucuronide, morphine-6-glucuronide.

Screening and identification of drugs in human hair by high-performance liquid chromatography-photodiode-array UV detection and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry after solid-phase extraction. A powerful tool in forensic medicine

A method is described to screen for a wide range of pharmaceuticals in human hair. 75 mg of powdered hair are incubated (12 h at +56 degrees C) in 2 ml of distilled water (acidic compounds) or 0.1 M hydrochloric acid (neutral and basic compounds). A twin solid-phase extraction on C18 cartridges is used for the sample clean-up procedure. Acidic drugs are fixed at pH 2 and eluted with 1% ammoniacal methanol while neutral and basic drugs are retained on the column at pH 8.6 and eluted with methanol containing 0.5% acetic acid. The internal standard (I.S.) for the acidic extraction was bupivacaine while the I.S. for the basic extraction was prazepam. The separation of the drugs was performed using both the liquid and the gas chromatographic techniques whereas identification was achieved using photodiode array and mass spectrometric detection, respectively. The liquid chromatographic system gives an elution of the drugs following a multi step gradient from a Symmetry C8 (Waters) 5 microns column (250 x 4.6 mm I.D.) at +30 degrees C with acetonitrile-phosphate buffer (pH 3.8). Identification is achieved using the reference data (retention times and spectra) of 675 pharmaceuticals, toxicants and drugs of abuse stored in a personal library. The present method has been applied during 6 months in our laboratory. By establishing a victim's drug use history, it is a very powerful tool in forensic medicine. We illustrate the method with some real cases of police crime investigation.

Hair analysis for drug abuse. XV. Disposition of 3, 4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) and its related compounds into rat hair and application to hair analysis for MDMA abuse

In order to clarify the mechanism of drug incorporation into hair, disposition of 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA), 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), 3,4-methylenedioxyethylamphetamine (MDEA), 3-methoxy-4,5-methylenedioxyamphetamine (MMDA) and metabolites of MDMA, 4-hydroxy-3-methoxyamphetamine (HMAP) and 4-hydroxy-3-methoxymethamphetamine (HMMA), into hair was investigated with an animal model. After the intraperitoneal administration of those six drugs to pigmented hairy rats (5 mg/kg/day, 10 days, n = 3), the parent compounds and their metabolites in the rat plasma (5, 15, 30, 60, 120, 360 min after administration) and in the newly grown rat hair for 4 weeks were determined by GC/MS-SIM. When the ratio of hair concentration to area under the concentration versus time curves (AUCs) in plasma was represented as an index of incorporation rate (ICR) of drugs into hair, the order of ICRs was HMAP < MDA < HMMA < MDMA < MDEA < MMDA. In the comparison between MDA, MDMA and MDEA, their ICRs increased according to the length of carbon branches from proton to ethyl at the N position. From the point of view that the ICRs of MMDA was 2.3 times as much as that of MDA, the methoxy group on the benzene ring seemed to serve as a positive factor for the ICR. However, the ICRs of 4-hydroxy-3-methoxy compounds, HMAP and HMMA, were lower in comparison with those of MDA and MDMA, respectively. On the other hand, the ICRs of MDA, MDMA and MDEA were 5.5-6.1 times larger than those of amphetamine, methamphetamine and ethylamphetamine, suggesting that the methylenedioxy group on the benzene ring raises their ICRs very positively. Moreover, in order to apply the results from the animal experiments to human cases, the scalp hair samples of seven MDMA abusers were analyzed. MDMA and its metabolites, MDA; were simultaneously detected in all the samples by GC/MS. In the two samples, MDEA was found in addition to MDMA and MDA. It was shown that a hair sample is a good specimen for the confirmation of retrospective use of methylenedioxyamphetamines.