Compendium of results from hair tested for anabolics

Time course of estazolam in single-strand hair based on micro-segmental analysis after controlled oral administration

The mechanism of estazolam incorporation into hair was investigated by studying the time course of estazolam along single-strand hair after two oral administration of estazolam at 28 days interval. Estazolam in single hair segments 0.4 mm in length was verified and quantified by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS). The distributions of estazolam within a strand of hair (collected at 12 h, 28 days, and 56 days post-administration) were visualized by micro-segmental analysis. The highest estazolam concentration (1.5–9.9 pg/mm) was detected in the hair bulb region (S1), and it then decreased through the hair shaft to the distal end, with a small fluctuation (0.3–3 pg/mm) near the junction of the hair roots and shafts (S4–S7) 12 h after drug intake. These findings suggested that the incorporation of estazolam occurred in two regions, mainly in the hair bulb and to a lesser extent in the upper dermis zone. Models using internal temporal markers (TIMs) and temporal intervals (TIs) were constructed to estimate the day of estazolam ingestion. The estimation accuracy was within an average error of 1.7 mm and 3.0 mm between the calculated and actual positions, based on the TIMs and TIs 56 days after estazolam intake. These findings can help in further elucidation of the drug incorporation mechanism, which is crucial for interpreting hair analysis results used to reveal individual drug-use history.

Two DFSA cases involving midazolam clarified by the micro-segmental hair analyses

PURPOSE

In this study, an analytical procedure to identify trace amounts of drug in hair based on micro-segmental hair analysis was presented. The method also can be used to estimate the time of drug ingestion at daily precision by cutting a single hair into sub-millimeter segments which correspond to daily hair growth.

METHODS

A method was established for efficient extraction of midazolam, one of the most frequently detected compound in drug-facilitated sexual assault (DFSA) cases, from each 0.4-mm hair segment and validated by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS). Moreover, two DFSA cases were used to compare the micro-segmental hair analysis with the 1- cm segmental analysis method.

RESULTS

The validation showed a lower limit of quantification of 0.5 pg/mm for midazolam, with intraday and interday accuracies (bias) from  - 5.2 to 0.9%. The micro-segmental hair analysis method was applied to proximal 1-cm hair segment including hair bulbs in two DFSA cases. The micro-segmental hair analysis results in case 1 showed midazolam in the S15-S17 (5.6-6.8 mm from hair bulb) in a concentration range from 0.5 to 0.9 pg/mm, and the concentrations of midazolam in all hair micro-segments (0-1 cm from the scalp) in case 2 were from 0.5 to 2.0 pg/mm.

CONCLUSIONS

Comparison with the conventional method revealed that micro-segmental hair analysis may enhance the utility of hair drug testing and strengthen probative force in DFSA cases.

Testing for Stanozolol, Using UPLC–MS-MS and Confirmation by UPLC–q-TOF-MS, in Hair Specimens Collected from Five Different Anatomical Regions

An athlete challenged the result from an in-competition doping test which returned with an adverse analytical finding for stanozolol, claiming it was due to supplement contamination. Her lawyer asked the laboratory to analyze several hair specimens simultaneously collected from five different anatomical regions, head, arm, leg, pubis and armpit, to document the pattern of drug exposure. A specific UPLC–MS-MS method was developed. After decontamination with dichloromethane, stanozolol was extracted from hair in the presence of stanozolol-d3 used as internal standard, under alkaline conditions, with diethyl ether. Linearity was observed for concentrations ranging from 5 pg/mg to 10 ng/mg. The method has been validated according to linearity, precision and matrix effect. Concentrations of stanozolol in head hair, pubic hair, arm hair, leg hair and axillary hair were 73, 454, 238, 244 and 7,100 pg/mg, respectively. The concentration of stanozolol in head hair is in accordance with data published in the literature. When comparing the concentrations, body hair concentrations were higher than the concentration found in head hair. These results are consistent with a better incorporation rate of stanozolol in body hair when compared to head hair. The simultaneous positive concentrations in different hair types confirm the adverse analytical finding in urine of the top athlete, as the measured concentrations do not support the theory of contamination. For the first time, an anabolic agent was simultaneously tested in hair collected from five different anatomical regions from the same subject, with a large distribution of concentrations, due to anatomical variations, and these findings will help interpretation in further doping cases when documented with hair.