Determination of Drugs of Abuse in a Single Sample of Human Teeth by a Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry Method

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a gas chromatography-mass spectrometry method to detect drugs of abuse in a single sample of tooth. Pulverized samples of dental materials were subjected to acid hydrolysis to detect opiates, cocaine and their metabolites. The residual dental materials from these analyses were subjected to basic extraction to detect cannabis products (Δ-tetrahydrocannabinol, cannabidiol and cannabinol). The method showed a good linearity between 0.05 and 2 ng/mg for all substances. The limit of detection ranged from 0.02 to 0.03 ng/mg, and the limit of quantification was 0.05 ng/mg. The application of the method to samples of teeth obtained from drug addicts was successful. It can be applied in post-mortem cases, especially when limited amounts of sample are available.

A lateral flow strip based on gold nanoparticles to detect 6-monoacetylmorphine in oral fluid

“…Samples include blood, plasma, urine, hair, oral fluids as well as in breath, sweat, breast milk, teeth, etc. [24][25][26][27]. The most common samples used for illicit heroin testing are blood, urine and oral fluids.…”

Toxicological Analysis of Opiates from Alternative Matrices Collected from an Exhumed Body

“…In many cases of forensic analysis of bodies when other skeletal parts cannot be studied (burned, left for long periods in water or exposed to considerable dehydration), only teeth remain in a usable condition. Some studies suggest that many substances accumulate even in the teeth of drug addicts . Few studies have reported the presence and pharmacological stability of drugs in the teeth of exhumed bodies [i.e., 2 years ].…”

“…In a second phase, samples of hair and teeth were analyzed in accordance with the validated procedure to identify chronic use of opioids . One hundred milligrams of finely cut hair and 1 g of pulverized teeth were subjected to hydrolysis with a solution of 0.1 M HCl (24 and 48 h at 50°C, respectively) after the addition of the internal standard (nalorphine 50 ng).…”

Cannabis and Its Secondary Metabolites: Their Use as Therapeutic Drugs, Toxicological Aspects, and Analytical Determination

“…Other organic solvents might be applied in this technique, such as acetonitrile [310], but the extractions may not reveal as efficient. Regarding SPE, the reported sorbents include mainly mixed mode and cation exchange ones such as Oasis MCX [300], Chromabond HR-XA [290], Strata X-C [281,297], CleanScreen [285], Isolute HCX [312], and specific THC sorbents, such as, CEREX HPSPE THC [299]. These conventional sample preparation techniques result, overall, in great cannabinoids recoveries, nevertheless, several drawbacks have been pointed in the most recent years, namely, difficulty in automation, its complicated and time-consuming processes, and the large amounts of sample and organic solvents that they usually require [313].…”

“…In this sense, it is common procedure to confirm by chromatographic techniques any positive result given by the immunoassay [331]. The most common use gas chromatography (GC) coupled to mass spectrometry (GC/MS) [272,285,310,311,312] or flame ionization detector (GC/FID) [303] and liquid chromatography (LC) coupled to mass spectrometry (LC/MS) [301,302,332] or ultraviolet detector (LC/UV) [250,302,305,333]. Nevertheless, GC methods are recognized for its difficulty to identify and quantify acidic cannabinoids such as cannabigerolic acid, cannabidiolic acid, and THCA because they are decarboxylated into their neutral forms during analysis [329,334].…”