Distinguishing Heroin Abuse From Codeine Administration in the Urine of Chinese People by UPLC-MS-MS.
Distinguishing Heroin Abuse from Codeine Administration in the Urine of Chinese People by UPLC-MS-MS.
Filed under: Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation
J Anal Toxicol. 2013 Jan 12;
Bu J, Zhan C, Huang Y, Shen B, Zhuo X
Heroin is a highly addictive drug, and heroin abuse is considered to be a serious criminal act. The major metabolite of heroin, morphine, can usually be detected as evidence of heroin abuse. However, it is difficult to determine heroin use when morphine and codeine are both detected, because codeine use will also result in the presence of morphine in urine. Therefore, it is important to distinguish heroin abuse from codeine administration. In this study, urine samples from 21 volunteers with various ingestion patterns of a compound codeine phosphate oral solution were used as negative controls, and urine samples from 89 alleged heroin users were used as positive controls. Urine from single and multiple doses of codeine administration were collected at different time points for a systematic comparison. After protein precipitation, the urine samples were analyzed for the presence of free morphine, free codeine and their metabolites by ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. The method of percentiles, with median and standard interquartile ranges, was used to describe and analyze the data based on the normality of the distribution. The ratios of concentration of morphine and morphine to codeine were found to be the possible criteria to distinguish heroin users from codeine users in Chinese people.
HubMed – drug
Quantitative Analysis of Acetaminophen and its Primary Metabolites in Small Plasma Volumes by Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry.
Filed under: Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation
J Anal Toxicol. 2013 Jan 12;
Gicquel T, Aubert J, Lepage S, Fromenty B, Morel I
A fast and sensitive liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS-MS) method was developed and validated for the simultaneous determination of acetaminophen (APAP) and its glucuronide and sulfate metabolites (APAP-GLU and APAP-SUL) in small plasma volumes. This method included a simple step of sample preparation and a chromatographic separation on an LC-MS-MS system equipped with an electrospray ionization source and a tandem triple quadrupole mass spectrometer in multiple reaction monitoring mode. The analytes and internal standard, APAP deuterated analog, were separated on a C18 column (3.0 µm, 2.1 × 100 mm), using aqueous 1% formic acid and methanol (80:20, v/v) as the mobile phase. The LC-MS-MS method was validated for accuracy, precision, linearity, extraction efficiency, process efficiency and matrix effect. Calibration curves were obtained by fortifying drug-free plasma and ranges of linearity were set between 0.25-20 mg/L. The mean correlation coefficients, r(2), were >0.99 for APAP and its metabolites. The inter-day and intra-day precision values were less than 11.75 and 13.03%, respectively, at the lower limit of quantification concentration. The usability of the method was demonstrated by studying APAP metabolism in C57BL/6J wild-type and obese ob/ob female mice, in which only small plasma volumes were available. The results showed that APAP glucuronidation was enhanced in obese mice, suggesting that changes in APAP metabolism could modify its toxicity in obesity and related fatty liver disease.
HubMed – drug
Screening of Stimulants Including Designer Drugs in Urine Using a Liquid Chromatography Tandem Mass Spectrometry System.
Filed under: Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation
J Anal Toxicol. 2013 Jan 11;
O’Byrne PM, Kavanagh PV, McNamara SM, Stokes SM
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.
HubMed – drug
Differentiating Medicinal from Illicit Use in Positive Methamphetamine Results in a Pain Population.
Filed under: Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation
J Anal Toxicol. 2013 Jan 11;
West R, Pesce A, West C, Mikel C, Velasco J, Gonzales E, Dizon Z, Almazan P, Latyshev S
In addition to illicit methamphetamine, there are prescription and over-the-counter medications that, if ingested, may yield positive methamphetamine (MAMP) results on laboratory urine drug tests. The purpose of the study is to estimate the prevalence of medicinal and illicit MAMP in the pain population using chiral analysis to determine the relative amounts of the d and l-MAMP enantiomers. This retrospective analysis included the LC-MS/MS results and prescriber provided medication histories of 485,889 de-identified urine specimens from patients treated for pain. Two groups of 100 specimens each were subjected to chiral analysis. Group 1 contained specimens that were MAMP positive and amphetamine negative. Group 2 contained randomly selected MAMP positive specimens. The overall MAMP positivity rate of the 485,889 specimens tested was 1.6%. The prevalence of MAMP medications based on reported medications and detection of l-MAMP in Group 1 and Group 2 was 44% and 6%, respectively. These data indicate that the use of both illicit and medicinal MAMP is found in this patient population, and that medicinal use is underreported in clinical histories. Therefore, clinical laboratories should provide on request chiral analysis to aid in differentiating illicit and medicinal MAMP.
HubMed – drug
Re-Training for Counseling at STLCC – Rick Flannagan lost his job at Chrysler when the company closed offices in St. Louis. He admits – it was scary to think about starting over and going back to school. Now he’s getting a fresh start at St. Louis Community College. He is training for a career to help others as a drug and alcohol rehabilitation counselor. This plus 50 student is on his way! The Plus 50 Initiative is a grant-funded three year project by the American Association of Community Colleges to support and promote best practices in programming and services at community colleges for plus 50 adults.
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