Innovative disposable pipette extraction for concurrent analysis of fourteen psychoactive substances in drug users' sweat.

Widespread consumption of drugs of abuse worldwide has caused concern: it adversely affects public health, individual safety, and social structures. Experts are particularly alarmed because new psychoactive substances have been increasingly detected in biological samples. In recent years, several studies have focused on developing methods to identify psychoactive substances in alternative biological matrices, such as sweat. This approach holds promise for monitoring substance use, especially in individuals undergoing rehabilitation. Among the commonly employed analytical procedures, extraction using disposable DPX tips stands out as a novel, miniaturized, and promising technique. This study aimed to validate and to apply a method to analyze various substances, including amphetamine, methamphetamine, MDMA, MDA, MDEA, cocaine, cocaethylene, anhydroecgonine methyl ester, dibutylone, N-ethylpentylone, 25E-NBOMe, 25CNBOMe, 2CC, 2C-E, fentanyl, and carfentanil, in sweat samples simultaneously. In this method, sweat is collected by using laboratory-developed patches, and extraction is conducted with DPX-SCX tips. Gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry is employed to separate, to identify, and to quantify the analytes. Validation results indicated that the quantification limit ranged from 2 to 30 ng of analyte/patch, and that the method was linear for analyte concentrations ranging from 2 to 1100 ng/patch. The validated method was applied to analyze 30 sweat samples collected from volunteers drug users and processed by using both the selected ion mode (SIM) and full scan. The method was able to detect and to quantify substances such as cocaine, cocaethylene, anhydroecgonine methyl ester, MDMA, MDA, nicotine, cotinine, caffeine, procaine, lidocaine, and ethylamphetamine simultaneously. The recovery rates ranged from 72.4 % to 97.1 %. The analytes were stable in the biological matrix. In conclusion, the validated method proved effective and allowed the target analytes to be quantified in sweat samples, highlighting that sweat is a viable matrix for analyzing drugs of abuse.

Kinetic profile of N,N-dimethyltryptamine and ß-carbolines in saliva and serum after oral administration of ayahuasca in a religious context.

Ayahuasca is a beverage obtained from Banisteriopsis caapi plus Psychotria viridis. B. caapi contains the ß-carbolines harmine, harmaline, and tetrahydroharmine that are monoamine oxidase inhibitors and P. viridis contains N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) that is responsible for the visionary effects of the beverage. Ayahuasca use is becoming a global phenomenon, and the recreational use of DMT and similar alkaloids has also increased in recent years; such uncontrolled use can lead to severe intoxications. In this investigation, liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) was used to study the kinetics of alkaloids over a 24 h period in saliva and serum of 14 volunteers who consumed ayahuasca twice a month in a religious context. We compared the area under the curve (AUC), maximum concentration (Cmax ), time to reach Cmax (Tmax ), mean residence time (MRT), and half-life (t1/2 ), as well as the serum/saliva ratios of these parameters. DMT and ß-carboline concentrations (Cmax ) and AUC were higher in saliva than in serum and the MRT was 1.5-3.0 times higher in serum. A generalized estimation equations (GEEs) model suggested that serum concentrations could be predicted by saliva concentrations, despite large individual variability in the saliva and serum alkaloid concentrations. The possibility of using saliva as a biological matrix to detect DMT, ß-carbolines, and their derivatives is very interesting because it allows fast noninvasive sample collection and could be useful for detecting similar alkaloids used recreationally that have considerable potential for intoxication.

A rapid assay for the simultaneous determination of nicotine, cocaine and metabolites in meconium using disposable pipette extraction and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS).

Drug abuse by pregnant women is considered a serious public health problem worldwide. Meconium is the first excretion in newborns and has been used as an alternative matrix to evaluate in utero drug exposure. Solid phase extraction (SPE) is widely employed to prepare and clean up samples in the field of forensic analysis. Most SPE products require large volumes of solvent, which culminates in longer sample processing times and increased cost per sample. Disposable pipette extraction (DPX) tips have been used as an alternative to traditional SPE cartridges. They combine efficient and rapid extraction with reduced solvent consumption. The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a method to determine nicotine, cotinine, cocaine, benzoylecgonine, cocaethylene and methyl ester anhydroecgonine in meconium using DPX and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Validation results indicated that extraction efficiency ranged 50-98%, accuracy 92-106%, intra-assay precision 4-12% and inter-assay precision 6-12%. Linear calibration curves resulted in R(2) values >0.99, limits of detection ranged from 2.5 to 15 ng/g and the limit of quantitation from 10 to 20 ng/g. The DPX-GC-MS method was shown to selectively analyze trace concentrations of drugs in meconium samples. Finally, the developed and validated method was applied to 50 meconium samples.