Screening of Stimulants Including Designer Drugs in Urine Using a Liquid Chromatography Tandem Mass Spectrometry System

Abstract

A rapid, reproducible and sensitive reversed phase liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry method was developed and validated for the identification and semi-quantitative confirmation of stimulants in urine. The method is capable of separating compounds such as cocaine and metabolites, amphetamines, substituted cathinones and other designer drugs, with a total run time of 11 min. The method was subsequently used to confirm the presence of these stimulants in the urine of patients attending the Drug Treatment Centre Board Ireland over the period in which legislation banning some named cathinones was introduced in Ireland. Substituted cathinones were the predominant drug of choice, outside of cocaine use. Mephedrone was the most widely detected cathinone in 2010, whereas 3,4-methylenedioxypyrrolidinobutyrophenone featured more prevalently in screenings in 2011. The appearance of adverse effects increases during multi-stimulant use related to synergistic pharmacological combinations, and this method has benefits in identifying multi-drug use between next generation designer drugs and commonly used stimulants.

“So prohibition can work?” Changes in use of novel psychoactive substances among adolescents attending a drug and alcohol treatment service following a legislative ban

“…We deliberately cast the net wide in terms of NPS due to concerns that success at reducing use of a single drug-type might conceal increased use of other emerging and not yet illegal NPS . Further new substances did indeed arrive into the drugs marketplace in Ireland following the initial legislation (Kavanagh & Power, 2014;O'Byrne, Kavanagh, McNamara, & Stokes, 2013). Nevertheless, there was a fall in use of the overall group of NPS.…”

Stereoselective Effects of Abused "Bath Salt" Constituent 3,4-Methylenedioxypyrovalerone in Mice: Drug Discrimination, Locomotor Activity, and Thermoregulation

“…Synthetic analogs of cathinone are psychostimulant-like drugs of abuse found in commercial "bath salt" preparations, and racemic 3,4-methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV) is a common constituent of these illicit products (Vircks and Mulligan, 2012;O'Byrne et al, 2013;Seely et al, 2013). Racemic MDPV (hereafter simply referred to as MDPV) potently inhibits the reuptake of dopamine (DA) at the dopamine transporter (DAT) but does not stimulate DA release (Baumann et al, 2013;Simmler et al, 2013).…”

Surveillance of emerging drugs of abuse in Hong Kong: validation of an analytical tools

“…4,5,7 The early identification of emerging drugs enables prompt counteractive measures in terms of their clinical and social management, and the surveillance of emerging drugs in the population is increasingly being adopted globally as a proactive approach to combat drug abuse. [13][14][15] In view of this, the present study was conducted to validate a locally developed LC-MS/MS method to screen for emerging DOA in the local population whilst simultaneously monitoring routine DOA. The study was conducted over a 21-month period.…”