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

Recreational Drug Use: A Major Risk Factor for Gastroschisis?

“…Since these initial developments there has been a rapid expansion in this area and a wide spectrum of recreational drugs can now be detected in human hair. These include opiates, heroin/morphine, amphetamine, cannabis, cocaine and LSD as well as a number of the metabolites arising from the drugs (Braithwaite et al 1995), (Sachs and Raff, 1993), (Nakahara, 1995), (Goldberger et al 1998), (Segura et al 1999), (Polettini et al 1993), (Rohrich et al 2000a), (Simpson et al 1997). …”

Determination of opiates and cocaine in hair using automated enzyme immunoassay screening methodologies followed by gas chromatographic–mass spectrometric (GC–MS) confirmation

“…Opiates, cocaine and other drugs of abuse are found in hair at concentrations that are within the range of microtiter immunoassays developed for forensic drug screening. Conventional urinary immunoassays, which are useful for the detection of hydrophilic metabolites, were shown to lack the required sensitivity and specificity required for hair analysis [20][21][22][23][24][25]. In contrast, oral fluid tests appear to be more appropriate for hair analysis, because of the cross-reactivity with the parent drug and lipophilic metabolites found in saliva, which is similar to findings in hair.…”

Determination of opiates in biological samples through the analysis of heptafluorobutyric derivatives by gas chromatography/negative ion chemical ionization mass spectrometry

“…19 In the analysis of one of the three real samples, MOR, COD and 6-MAM were found in amounts below the concentration range of the calibration curve, that is why they were considered negative; in contrast, the other unknown sample showed analyte concentration levels of 1.0 and 1.1 ng/mg (MOR) and 7.8 and 10.2 (6-MAM). COD was undetectable in the first sample and present at 0.8 ng/mg in the second.The determination of analyte concentrations in hair samples was only aimed at verifying the actual applicability of the described technique to real samples, but the main advantage of the proposed analytical methodology lies in the high levels of detection obtained by the use of chemical negative ionization in the determination of heroin metabolites as heptafluorobutyric derivatives.Heroin metabolites have been widely determined by radioimmunoassay or immunosorbent assay (ELISA) methodologies, for a rapid screening to detect opiates; 20,21 Time ( opiates 20 and, recently, GC/MS techniques have been used both to confirm the actual drug abuse and to perform quantitative analyses. Opiates have been determined as trimethylsilyl, propionyl, trifluoroacetyl and heptafluorobutyric derivatives by using gas chromatography coupled with many different mass spectrometric techniques.…”

“…In that case, high amounts of sample are usually available (10 or even 100 mg of hair); besides, high cut-off levels are established to avoid 'false positive' response due to contamination phenomena. That is why when GC/EI-SIM techniques were applied in the analysis of heptafluorobutyric derivatives of hair sample from drug abusers, 20 no study or improvements in sensitivity were necessary because opiates were detected at concentrations of 0.14 ng/mg, below the cut-off level.…”