Recent Trends in Analytical Methods to Determine New Psychoactive Substances in Hair

Abstract

New Psychoactive Substances (NPS) belong to several chemical classes, including phenethylamines, piperazines, synthetic cathinones and synthetic cannabinoids. Development and validation of analytical methods for the determination of NPS both in traditional and alternative matrices is of crucial importance to study drug metabolism and to associate consumption to clinical outcomes and eventual intoxication symptoms. Among different biological matrices, hair is the one with the widest time window to investigate drug-related history and demonstrate past intake.The aim of this paper was to overview the trends of the rapidly evolving analytical methods for the determination of NPS in hair and the usefulness of these methods when applied to real cases.A number of rapid and sensitive methods for the determination of NPS in hair matrix has been recently published, most of them using liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry. Hair digestion and subsequent solid phase extraction or liquid-liquid extraction were described as well as extraction in organic solvents. For most of the methods limits of quantification at picogram per milligram hair were obtained. The measured concentrations for most of the NPS in real samples were in the range of picograms of drug per milligram of hair. Interpretation of the results and lack of cut-off values for the discrimination between chronic consumption and occasional use or external contamination are still challenging.Methods for the determination of NPS in hair are continually emerging to include as many NPS as possible due to the great demand for their detection.

New Psychoactive Substances (NPS) – a Challenge for the Addiction Treatment Services

“…Gas chromatography/liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry [66,67] approaches are clearly more reliable, but both are expensive and time-consuming. In addition, methods to detect NPS in hair were developed [68]. It is of critical importance that clinicians in emergency departments or in psychiatry should be aware that there are NPS and that NPS can provoke severe complications such as epileptic seizures or psychosis, whilst NPS are not detected in standard drug screens.…”

Consequences of COVID-19 Lockdown on the Misuse and Marketing of Addictive Substances and New Psychoactive Substances

“…An increased consumption of cannabis products and benzodiazepines was reported due to the general feeling of stress caused by the pandemic and associated restrictions, while a decrease in the demand of stimulants was observed due to the inaccessibility of usual recreational settings (4). Moreover, drug misuse may have shifted toward alternative substances and home-made New Psychoactive Substances (NPS) (5-7), which consist of molecules, like pharmaceutical drug analogs, research chemicals and prescription drugs eliciting the psychoactive effects of common illicit addictive drugs or prescription pharmaceuticals (8,9). The current situation is complex due to the heterogeneity of policies applied in diverse countries and the drugs involved.…”

Different localizations of drugs simultaneously administered in a strand of hair by micro‐segmental analysis

“…Although the analysis of a strand of hair using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionizationimaging mass spectrometry (MALDI-IMS) has resolved the problem of spatial resolution (because the laser spot diameter and step size are normally 100 μm each), [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] MALDI-IMS is inferior to liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) because the recent development of high-end instruments has improved drug detection sensitivity and quantification in biological samples. [18][19][20] Both high spatial resolution and detection sensitivity are required to measure the distributions of drugs in a strand of hair in detail.…”