Forensic science international
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Comparative Study
Detection of alprazolam in hair by negative ion chemical ionization mass spectrometry.
A sensitive and specific method for the quantitative determination of alprazolam (AL) in hair has been developed. After the addition of deuterium labeled triazolam as an internal standard, hair samples (20 mg) were digested with 1 N NaOH at 40 degrees C overnight. Calibrators containing known concentrations of AL dried onto drug-free hair were also prepared and digested. ⋯ Inter-assay precision was 11.2% at 25 pg/mg and 5.3% at 150 pg/mg. This method has been used to study the hair incorporation of AL into Long-Evans rats who received 5.0 mg/kg or 7.5 mg/kg i.p. twice a day for 5 days. Preliminary results indicate that the AL concentration in the pigmented and non-pigmented hair on day 14 ranged from 60 to 100 pg/mg.
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Comparative Study
Determination of opiates in hair. Effects of extraction methods on recovery and on stability of analytes.
In order to evaluate (i) the recovery of extraction of opiates from authentic hair samples and (ii) the extent of hydrolysis of acetylated opiates (6-acetylmorphine, acetylcodeine) occurring during sample preparation, three different methods of extraction commonly used for opiates have been compared. To this purpose a sample consisting of a pool of hair collected from several heroin overdose cases has been submitted alternately to (A) digestion in 2 M NaOH at 80 degrees C for 1 h (n = 5), (B) incubation in 0.1 M HCl at 45 degrees C for 18 h (n = 5) and (C) incubation in methanol at 37 degrees C for 18 h (n = 5). After pH adjustment of the different incubation media to 7-8, analytes have been isolated by means of SPE using Bond Elut certify columns and derivatized with MSTFA. ⋯ Both the recovery of extraction of the total morphine fraction (6-acetylmorphine + morphine) and the rate of hydrolysis of 6-acetylmorphine were found to be in the order: A > B > C. Similar results were obtained for the total codeine fraction (acetylcodeine + codeine). These results clearly indicate that: (i) the concentration of opiates measured in hair depends on the extraction method used; (ii) ratios between different analytes (e.g. 6-acetylmorphine vs. morphine) may reflect the rate of hydrolysis during sample preparation rather than different types of exposure to opiates.
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Opiates are commonly used for pain treatment, especially for sharp pain like carcinoma pain. Two opiates are generally prescribed in our hospital: morphine and codeine in association with paracetamol. Most of the patients were given oral forms. ⋯ Opiates testing in hair is performed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), using acid hydrolysis in presence of deuterated standards, a three-step liquid extraction and derivatization with BSTFA + TMCS. Results of codeine and morphine content in hair during pain treatment showed no correlation group between dose and concentration of the drug in hair. However, codeine values in hair during pain treatment compared to codeine in the hair of codeine abusers was significantly different (P < 0.0001).