Quantification of 11-nor-9-carboxy-δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol in human oral fluid by gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

Detection of Cannabinoids in Oral Fluid Specimens as the Preferred Biological Matrix for a Point-of-Care Biosensor Diagnostic Device

An increasing number of countries have started to decriminalize or legalize the consumption of cannabis for recreational and medical purposes. The active ingredients in cannabis, termed cannabinoids, affect multiple functions in the human body, including coordination, motor skills, memory, response time to external stimuli, and even judgment. Cannabinoids are a unique class of terpeno-phenolic compounds, with 120 molecules discovered so far. There are certain situations when people under the influence of cannabis may be a risk to themselves or the public safety. Over the past two decades, there has been a growing research interest in detecting cannabinoids from various biological matrices. There is a need to develop a rapid, accurate, and reliable method of detecting cannabinoids in oral fluid as it can reveal the recent intake in comparison with urine specimens, which only show a history of consumption. Significant improvements are continuously made in the analytical formats of various technologies, mainly concerning improving their sensitivity, miniaturization, and making them more user-friendly. Additionally, sample collection and pretreatment have been extensively studied, and specific devices for collecting oral fluid specimens have been perfected to allow rapid and effective sample collection. This review presents the recent findings regarding the use of oral fluid specimens as the preferred biological matrix for cannabinoid detection in a point-of-care biosensor diagnostic device. A critical review is presented, discussing the findings from a collection of review and research articles, as well as publicly available data from companies that manufacture oral fluid screening devices. Firstly, the various conventional methods used to detect cannabinoids in biological matrices are presented. Secondly, the detection of cannabinoids using point-of-care biosensors is discussed, emphasizing oral fluid specimens. This review presents the current pressing technological challenges and highlights the gaps where new technological solutions can be implemented.

A systematic review of quantitative analysis of cannabinoids in oral fluid

Cannabis sativa L. is a substance widely used around the world for recreational and medicinal purposes. Oral fluid has been investigated as an alternative biological matrix for demonstrating the illegal use of cannabis, particularly in situations where its recent use needs to be identified. In the last two decades, many methods have been developed to detect and quantify cannabinoids in oral fluid, especially for Δ⁹ -tetrahydrocannabinol, the primary psychoactive substance of cannabis. However, some aspects must be considered in the use of these techniques, such as cannabinoids recoveries or extraction efficiency from different oral fluid collection devices/containers. Pharmacokinetic studies have shown that the presence of minor cannabinoids and metabolites in the analysis of oral fluid may be valuable in interpreting tests, which indicates the need to improve the sensitivity of detecting low concentrations. The aim of this review is to summarize and to describe the methodologies for the quantitative analysis of cannabinoids in oral fluid that have previously been investigated. A systematic search for articles was performed of four different databases, using the descriptor "cannabinoids and oral fluid". Forty-seven studies that examined quantitative methods were identified. The analytical data described in these articles, including oral fluid collection, sample preparation, cannabinoids recovery and extraction efficiency, detection instruments, and quantification limits, were analyzed. The discussion of these particular features of cannabinoid analysis in oral fluid could help to improve or to develop methods for use in Forensic Toxicology.

MASS SPECTROMETRY ANALYSIS OF DRUGS OF ABUSE: CHALLENGES AND EMERGING STRATEGIES

Mass spectrometry has been the "gold standard" for drugs of abuse (DoA) analysis for many decades because of the selectivity and sensitivity it affords. Recent progress in all aspects of mass spectrometry has seen significant developments in the field of DoA analysis. Mass spectrometry is particularly well suited to address the rapidly proliferating number of very high potency, novel psychoactive substances that are causing an alarming number of fatalities worldwide. This review surveys advancements in the areas of sample preparation, gas and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, as well as the rapidly emerging field of ambient ionization mass spectrometry. We have predominantly targeted literature progress over the past ten years and present our outlook for the future. © 2020 Periodicals, Inc. Mass Spec Rev.

Gas chromatographic analysis of naturally occurring cannabinoids: A review of literature published during the past decade

INTRODUCTION

Cannabinoids are organic compounds, natural or synthetic, that bind to the cannabinoid receptors and have similar pharmacological properties as produced by the cannabis plant, Cannabis sativa. Gas chromatography (GC), e.g. gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS), is a popular analytical tool that has been used extensively to analyse cannabinoids in various matrices.

OBJECTIVE

To review published literature on the use of various GC-based analytical methods for the analysis of naturally occurring cannabinoids published during the past decade.

METHODOLOGY

A comprehensive literature search was performed utilising several databases, like Web of Knowledge, PubMed and Google Scholar, and other relevant published materials including published books. The keywords used, in various combinations, with cannabinoids being present in all combinations, in the search were cannabinoids, Cannabis sativa, marijuana, analysis, GC, quantitative, qualitative and quality control.

RESULTS

During the past decade, several GC-based methods for the analysis of cannabinoids have been reported. While simple one-dimensional (1D) GC-MS and GC-FID (flame ionisation detector) methods were found to be quite common in cannabinoids analysis, two-dimensional (2D) GC-MS as well as GC-MS/MS also were popular because of their ability to provide more useful data for identification and quantification of cannabinoids in various matrices. Some degree of automation in sample preparation, and applications of mathematical and computational models for optimisation of different protocols were observed, and pre-analyses included various derivatisation techniques, and environmentally friendly extraction protocols.

CONCLUSIONS

GC-based analysis of naturally occurring cannabinoids, especially using GC-MS, has dominated the cannabinoids analysis in the last decade; new derivatisation methods, new ionisation methods, and mathematical models for method optimisation have been introduced.

Oral Fluid Drug Testing: Analytical Approaches, Issues and Interpretation of Results

With advances in analytical technology and new research informing result interpretation, oral fluid (OF) testing has gained acceptance over the past decades as an alternative biological matrix for detecting drugs in forensic and clinical settings. OF testing offers simple, rapid, non-invasive, observed specimen collection. This article offers a review of the scientific literature covering analytical methods and interpretation published over the past two decades for amphetamines, cannabis, cocaine, opioids, and benzodiazepines. Several analytical methods have been published for individual drug classes and, increasingly, for multiple drug classes. The method of OF collection can have a significant impact on the resultant drug concentration. Drug concentrations for amphetamines, cannabis, cocaine, opioids, and benzodiazepines are reviewed in the context of the dosing condition and the collection method. Time of last detection is evaluated against several agencies' cutoffs, including the proposed Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, European Workplace Drug Testing Society and Driving Under the Influence of Drugs, Alcohol and Medicines cutoffs. A significant correlation was frequently observed between matrices (i.e., between OF and plasma or blood concentrations); however, high intra-subject and inter-subject variability precludes prediction of blood concentrations from OF concentrations. This article will assist individuals in understanding the relative merits and limitations of various methods of OF collection, analysis and interpretation.

Drug exposure during pregnancy: analytical methods and toxicological findings

Drug use during pregnancy constitutes a major preventable worldwide public health issue. Birth defects, growth retardation and neurodevelopmental disorders are associated with tobacco, alcohol or drugs of abuse exposure during pregnancy. Besides these adverse health effects, drug use during pregnancy also raises legal and social concerns. Identification and quantification of drug markers in maternal and newborn biological samples offers objective evidence of exposure and complements maternal questionnaires. We reviewed the most recent analytical methods for quantifying drugs of abuse, tobacco, alcohol and psychotropic drugs in maternal, newborn and maternal-fetal unit biological samples by gas and liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry. In addition, manuscripts comparing the usefulness of different biological samples to detect drug exposure during pregnancy were reviewed.

Application of gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry for the determination of amphetamine-type stimulants in blood and urine

Amphetamine, methamphetamine, phentermine, 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA), 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), and 3,4-methylenedioxy-N-ethylamphetamine (MDEA) are the most popular amphetamine-type stimulants. The use of these substances is a serious societal problem worldwide. In this study, a method based on gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS) with simple and rapid liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) and derivatization was developed and validated for the simultaneous determination of the six aforementioned amphetamine derivatives in blood and urine. The detection of all compounds was based on multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) transitions. The most important advantage of the method is the minimal sample volume (as low as 200μL) required for the extraction procedure. The validation parameters, i.e., the recovery (90.5-104%), inter-day accuracy (94.2-109.1%) and precision (0.5-5.8%), showed the repeatability and sensitivity of the method for both matrices and indicated that the proposed procedure fulfils internationally established acceptance criteria for bioanalytical methods The procedure was successfully applied to the analysis of real blood and urine samples examined in 22 forensic toxicological cases. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work presenting the use of GC-MS/MS for the determination of amphetamine-type stimulants in blood and urine. In view of the low limits of detection (0.09-0.81ng/mL), limits of quantification (0.26-2.4ng/mL), and high selectivity, the procedure can be applied for drug monitoring in both fatal and non-fatal intoxication cases in routine toxicology analysis.