Determination of Cocaine Usage in Pregnant Women by a Urinary EMIT Drug Screen and GC-MS Analyses

Abstract

In mothers who had no prenatal care and in their newborns, the presence of cocaine and benzoylecgonine (BE) was determined in urine, hair, and meconium. Samples of urine and hair were obtained from pregnant women who entered the hospital for delivery. Cocaine usage was assessed by a urinary enzyme-multiplied immunoassay technique (EMIT) and by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). GC-MS was used to detect the presence of cocaine and BE in maternal urine and hair and in meconium and hair obtained from their newborns. In this study of 40 women, the EMIT assay for urinary BE identified 17 (42.5%) of the women as having used cocaine. Of these 17 women, all of their newborns were exposed to cocaine during gestation, based on the analysis of neonatal hair and meconium for cocaine or BE. From the maternal samples that were assayed for cocaine and BE by GC-MS, it appears that hair analysis identified the most cocaine users (70%) of the 40 women who participated in the study. When GC-MS was used to analyze the various samples from mothers and their newborns, 80% of the neonates showed exposure to cocaine. This study shows that women with no prenatal care who have a positive urinary drug screen by EMIT for BE have exposed their newborns to cocaine. The data from pregnant women with a negative drug screen for BE show that 52.2% of their newborns had prior fetal exposure to cocaine.

Gold Nanoparticle-Based Colorimetric Sensors for Detection of DNA and Small Molecules

“…188,189 Immunoassays are among the most common methods for initial presumptive screening, as they allow rapid screening of many specimens and can confidently exclude drug-negative samples from further confirmatory 30 testing. Commercially-available tests such as enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), 190,191 enzyme-multiplied immunoassay technique (EMIT), 192 fluorescence polarization immunoassay (FPIA) 193 and radioimmunoassay (RIA) 189 can achieve quantitative and qualitative detection of cocaine and/or its major metabolites in biofluids. ELISA has been proven to be time consuming and expensive.…”

Nanomaterial-Based Electrochemical and Colorimetric Sensors for On-Site Detection of Small-Molecule Targets

“…109 Cocaine binds differentially to the dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine transport proteins, and directly inhibits the re-uptake of these neurotransmitters into pre-synaptic neurons, resulting in euphoria, pleasure and addiction. 110,111 119,120 EMIT, 112 fluorescence polarization immunoassays (FPIA) 121 and radioimmunoassays (RIA) 113 for the quantitative and qualitative detection of cocaine and its major metabolites in biofluids. Most early immunoassays used ELISA , but these tests are timeconsuming and expensive.…”

“…We then tested enzyme-produced NADH with both spectrophotometry and electrochemistry. A commercial immunoassay kit 112 has been used to evaluate the performance of our 50 µg P-SWCNT loaded film to detect NADH produced as a result of enzymatic reaction from the Syva reagents and cocaine metabolite (benzoylecgonine) in the biosample. A hyperbolic response was observed for the enzyme-produced NADH as the concentration of benzoylecgonine increased from 5 ng/mL to 1000 ng/mL.…”

“…A lot of research has been going on to develop different techniques involving both screening as well as confirmatory tests to detect cocaine and its metabolites qualitatively and quantitatively in biofluids. 112 Immunoassays among them are one of the widely used presumptive screening techniques such as enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), 119,120 enzyme-multiplied immunoassay technique (EMIT), 112 radioimmunoassay (RIA), 113 and fluorescence polarization immunoassay (FPIA), 121 using antibodies, to detection of cocaine and its major metabolites. Although immunoassays such as ELISA provide the ease for quick screening, cross-reactivity with structurally similar compounds can generate false positives apart from being expensive, laborious, and time-consuming.…”

“…113 Confirmatory tests based on mass spectrometry (MS) on the other hand are highly accurate, quantitative, and are considered gold standard in detection of cocaine in biofluids. [112][113][114][115][116][117][118] The high specificity and reliability of the MS instruments has a downside for being expensive requiring a designated lab set-up with the expertise of trained personnel to analyze and interpret the results. Though the sensitivity, and specificity of the MS techniques are unparalleled, working with thousands of samples with these techniques is laborious, time consuming and very expensive.…”