Hair Analysis as Method for Determination of Level of Drugs and Pharmaceutical in Human Body: Review of Chromatographic Procedures

Abstract

Interest in hair analysis as an alternative or complementary approach to urinalysis for drug abuse detection has grown in recent years. Hair analysis can be particularly advantageous for drugs and their enantiomers.More than hundred pharmaceuticals, drugs of abuse agents are reported to be detectable in human and animal hair. This article reviews the analysis of drugs and drug metabolites by chromatographic procedures, including the pretreatment steps, and the extraction methods. The general tendency in the last years, to highly sophisticated techniques gas chromatography -mass spectrometry (GC-MS-NCI), high pressure liquid chromatography -mass spectrometry (HPLC -MS), gas chromatography -mass spectrometry -mass spectrometry (GC-MS-MS) well illustrates this constant fight for sensitivity.

Matrix solid-phase dispersion on column clean-up/pre-concentration as a novel approach for fast isolation of abuse drugs from human hair

“…Reviews on this topic show numerous extraction treatments mainly based on methanol, aqueous acids or buffer solutions as extracting solvents, alkaline digestions with aqueous sodium hydroxide, or enzymatic digestions (hydrolysis) [1,11,12]. Methods based on acidic hydrolysis have been reported to offer high yields for cocaine, opiates and their metabolites [13], although enzymatic hydrolysis are also recommended, mainly because the moderate pH and temperature conditions inherent to these procedures [14][15][16][17][18][19].…”

Development, validation, and application of a liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry method for the determination of 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanol in human hair

“…Reported extraction methods are mainly based on methanol, aqueous acids, or buffer solutions as extractants, alkaline digestions with aqueous NaOH, or enzymatic digestions [9,10]. Given that NNAL is stable under alkaline conditions, complete and convenient extraction can be achieved by digestion with aqueous NaOH [38,39].…”

“…Alternative sample matrices are gaining increasing attention in clinical and forensic studies and toxicological analysis. Hair, which was proposed as an alternative or a complement to blood or urine, plays a special role for several reasons, such as easy and noninvasive sample collection, convenient storage and transportation, sample stability at room temperature for a long time, and a much longer detection window (months to years) [8][9][10]. Nails are also a promising nonconventional biological matrix for application.…”

“…However, they reflect limited temporal information and have a poorly defined "analysis window" [8]. It has been shown that a combination of basicity and a certain portion of hydrophobicity provide ideal conditions for incorporation of metabolites into hair [9,10], so it is biologically plausible that NNAL is present in human hair. To our knowledge, so far, there is no report available on the analysis of NNAL in human hair; therefore, the analytical method needs to be investigated.…”

“…The metabolites become embedded in the hair structure by diffusion from blood during the process of keratinization, so hair analysis usually begins with the quantitative extraction of the compounds from the matrix which is mainly based on methanol, aqueous acids, or buffer solutions such as extractants, alkaline digestions, or enzymatic digestions [9,10]. Owing to the complexity of the sample matrix and the trace levels of the analytes, suitable cleanup and enrichment prior to instrumental analysis is necessary.…”