Pulverization Is a Crucial Step—A Comparative Study of Different Pretreatments in Hair Drug Testing

Abstract

In forensic toxicology, hair has become a hot biological material for drug testing due to its wider detection window and noninvasive sampling process compared to traditional liquid biological materials (e.g., blood and urine). However, hair as a matrix differs from body fluids, as it is not as easily aliquoted for analysis. Nevertheless, pretreatment methods for hair detection have gradually improved from the first chemical methods, such as alkali digestion and acid hydrolysis, to now include the physical method of pulverization, and further improvements beyond “pulverization” protocols. In a previous study, we updated and developed a “micropulverized extraction” method. In the present study, our aim was to gain a more complete understanding of the “micropulverized extraction” method by comparing pulverization temperature and hair particle size, as these two factors are known to influence the effectiveness of sample processing. The analytes we selected were those commonly encountered in traditional drug abuse cases: (±)-methamphetamine, (±)-amphetamine, morphine, 6-acetylmorphine, cocaine, benzoylecgonine, (-)-Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol, ketamine, (±)-norketamine, and (±)3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine. The analysis method was liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.

Matrices no convencionales como las faneras (pelos) en la detección de drogas de abuso con fines de investigación toxicológica forense

“…Al realizar el método de pretratamiento de muestras ahorra tiempo y trabajo y es factible para el análisis de laboratorio de rutina. Además, creemos que la polaridad de los analitos puede ser un factor adicional que afecta la eficiencia de extracción, pero esto necesita más estudio (Hu et al, 2023).…”