Pamela Cabarcos

Determination of direct alcohol markers: a review

Alcohol is the most popular legal drug used in our society today, and its consumption by pregnant women remains an important public health problem. Gestational alcohol consumption can result in a continuum of adverse fetal outcomes known as fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD). Effective strategies are needed to prevent the increasing adoption of risky drinking behaviors. Because ethanol itself is only measurable for a few hours after ethanol intake in conventional matrices including blood, urine, and sweat, these matrices are only useful to detect recent ethanol exposure. Since approximately early 2000, the non-oxidative ethanol metabolites have received increasing attention because of their specificity and, in some cases, wide time window of detection in non-conventional matrices including hair and meconium. In the attempt to update analytical methods for the determination of non-oxidative markers of alcohol, the objective of this study is to review published studies that measure fatty-acid ethyl esters (FAEE), ethyl glucuronide (EtG), and phosphatidylethanol (PEth) in alternative biological matrices, focusing on the extraction and detection methods and full analytical conditions used.

Application of dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction for the determination of phosphatidylethanol in blood by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry.

Phosphatidylethanol (PEth) is a phospholipid which requires for its metabolic formation the presence of relatively high ethanol levels. PEth is thus a promising marker to quentify ethanol abuse. Dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction has become a popular technique because it is fast, inexpensive, easy to operate and consumes low volume of organic solvent. In this method, the appropriate mixture of extraction solvent (230 μL dichloromethane) and disperser solvent (630 μL acetone) are injected into the sample by syringe, rapidly. The liquid chromatography method using a reversed phase-C8 column and a negative ion mode electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry detection instrument was developed for the determination of small amounts of PEth that might be present in blood samples, using phosphatidylbutanol (PBut) as an internal standard. The sensitivity of detection obtained with tandem MS was better than that of previous methods. Good linearity was obtained for a range of LOQ-10 μg/mL for PEth, whereas all of the deviations in precision and accuracy were less than 15% except for the LLOQ, where it should not exceed 20%. A set of 50 blood samples were analyzed by such method and whole blood concentrations of PEth 16:0/18:1 ranged from LLOQ to 1.71 μg/mL.

Determination of cocaine and its metabolites in plasma by porous membrane-protected molecularly imprinted polymer micro-solid-phase extraction and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.

A selective molecularly imprinted polymer synthesized for the selective retention of cocaine (COC) and its metabolites [benzoylecgonine (BZE), ecgonine methyl ester (EME), and cocaethylene (CE)] was used as a solid adsorbent for assessing cocaine abuse by plasma analysis. The MIP beads (50mg) were loaded inside a cone shaped device made of a polypropylene (PP) membrane for micro-solid-phase extraction (μ-SPE). High performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) was used for quantifying the analytes after MIP-μ-SPE. The best retention capabilities were reached when loading plasma samples (within the 0.1-5.0mL range), previously adjusted to pH 5.5 by orbital-horizontal shaking (150rpm, 50°C) for 10min. Analyte elution was achieved by subjecting the MIP-μ-SPE device to ultrasound (37kHz, 325W) with 10mL of dichloromethane/2-propanol/ammonium hydroxide (76:20:4) for 8min. After eluate evaporation to dryness and re-dissolution in 100μL of mobile phase, the MIP-μ-SPE method yielded a pre-concentration factor of 50. Precision was assessed by intra-day and inter-day assays, and accuracy (intraday and inter-day analytical recovery, as well as the analysis of a BTMF 1/11-B control serum sample) show that the developed method is highly precise and accurate. In addition, the limits of detection, ranging from 0.061ngmL(-1) for COC to 0.87ngmL(-1) for BZE, were low enough for confirmative conclusions regarding cocaine abuse. The method was used for screening/quantifying cocaine and metabolites in plasma samples from poly-drug abusers.

Analysis of Fatty Acid Ethyl Esters in Hair by Headspace Solid-Phase Microextraction (HS-SPME) and Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS)

Abstract Fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEE) can be used as alcohol markers in hair. The purpose of this study was to validate a new method for the detection of FAEE in hair, reducing the extraction time. Hair samples were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry after headspace solid-phase microextraction with deuterated internal standards. Linear curves for ethyl myristate, palmitate and stearate were obtained in the range considered. The limits of detection were 0.8, 0.005, and 0.01 and the lower limits of quantification were 1.8, 0.01, and 0.4 for ethyl myristate, palmitate and stearate, respectively. Intra- and inter-assay precision and accuracy were less than 12.5% and 16.1%, respectively. Recoveries were higher than 13.5% in all cases. Finally, the method was applied to analyze hair of alcoholics, social drinkers, and teetotallers.

Quantification of fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEE) and ethyl glucuronide (EtG) in meconium for detection of alcohol abuse during pregnancy: Correlation study between both biomarkers

This article presents results from 47 meconium samples, which were analyzed for fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEE) and ethyl glucuronide (EtG) for detection of gestational alcohol consumption. A validated microwave assisted extraction (MAE) method in combination with GC-MS developed in the Institute of Forensic Science (Santiago de Compostela) was used for FAEE and the cumulative concentration of ethyl myristate, ethyl palmitate and ethyl stearate with a cut-off of 600ng/g was applied for interpretation. A simple method for identification and quantification of EtG has been evaluated by ultrasonication followed solid phase extraction (SPE). Successful validation parameters were obtained for both biochemical markers of alcohol intake. FAEE and EtG concentrations in meconium ranged between values lower than LOD and 32,892ng/g or 218ng/g respectively. We have analyzed FAEE and EtG in the same meconium aliquot, enabling comparison of the efficiency of gestational ethanol exposure detection. Certain agreement between the two biomarkers was found as they are both a very specific alcohol markers, making it a useful analysis for confirmation.

Determination of fentanyl, metabolite and analogs in urine by GC/MS

A rapid and sensitive method for the simultaneous determination of alfentanyl, sufentanyl and fentanyl (and its major metabolite norfentanyl) in urine was developed and validated. The method involved a liquid–liquid extraction in alkaline conditions, derivatization with pentafluoropropionic anhydride to improve the sensitivity for norfentanyl and subsequent analysis in GC/MS. The LODs are 0.08 ng ml−1 for all substances (0.04 ng ml−1 for alfentanyl). Intra‐ and inter‐day precision coefficient of variation was always below 15%; mean relative error (accuracy) was always below 15%. The method was linear for all analytes, with quadratic regression of calibration curves always higher than 0.99. The method was applied to real samples of subjects who had received therapeutic doses of fentanyl, showing its suitability for the determination of low levels of these substances. The method was also applied to a subject whose death was attributed to fentanyl overdose. Copyright

Matrix solid phase dispersion assisted enzymatic hydrolysis as a novel approach for cocaine and opiates isolation from human hair.

The possibility of assisting enzymatic hydrolysis (EH) procedures by sample disruption mechanisms inherent to matrix solid phase dispersion (MSPD) has been explored in the current study. EH of hair specimens from poly-drug abusers was assisted by dispersing/blending the sample (0.05 g) with alumina (2.25 g) before loading the dissolved enzyme (6 mL of 1 mg mL(-1) Pronase E in 1.4 M/1.4 M Tris/HCl, pH 7.3) through the hair-alumina solid phase packaged inside a disposable MSPD syringe. The MSPD-EH method was developed, and it proved to offer quantitative results when isolating cocaine, benzoylecgonine (BZE), codeine, morphine and 6-monoacethylmorphine (6-MAM) from human hair samples. The procedure allows an on column clean-up/pre-concentration procedure of the isolated targets by attaching a previously conditioned Oasis HLB cartridge to the end of the MSPD syringe. The EH procedure of human hair with Pronase E can therefore be shortened to approximately 30 min. Within this time, sample blending/dispersion, MSPD syringe package, elution (EH when dissolved Pronase E is passing through the sample-dispersant bed), and extract clean-up and target pre-concentration stages are achieved. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was used for determining each target after elution from the Oasis HLB cartridges with 2 mL of 2% (v/v) acetic acid in methanol, concentration by N2 stream evaporation, and dried extract derivatization with N-methyl-tert-butylsilyltrifluoroacetamide (BSTFA) and chlorotrimethylsilane (TMCS). The method was validated according to the guidance for bioanalytical method validation of the US Department of Health and Human Services, Food and Drug Administration. The simplicity of the proposed approach makes it a useful procedure for screening/quantifying drugs of abuse in hair specimens from poly-drug abusers.