Spot them in the spot: analysis of abused substances using dried blood spots

Abstract

Dried blood spot (DBS) sampling and DBS analysis have increasingly received attention during recent years. Furthermore, a substantial number of DBS methods has recently become available in clinical, forensic and occupational toxicology. In this review, we provide an overview of the different DBS-based methods that have been developed for detecting (markers of) abused substances. These include both legal and illegal drugs belonging to different categories, including cannabinoids, cocaine and metabolites, opioids, benzodiazepines and Z-drugs, amphetamines and analogs, gamma-hydroxybutyric acid, ketamine and novel psychoactive substances such as cathinones. Markers of ethanol consumption and tobacco use are also covered in this review. Since the majority of published methods has shown promising results overall, an interesting role for DBS analysis in diverse toxicological applications can be envisaged. For the distinct applications, we discuss the specific potential and benefits of DBS, the associated limitations and challenges, as well as recent developments and future perspectives.

Cocaine and metabolite concentrations in DBS and venous blood after controlled intravenous cocaine administration

“…DBS sampling refers to a microsampling technique of increasing interest in pharmaceutical, clinical and forensic settings [8]. DBS sampling is not a novel concept, as it was utilized over a century ago to monitor glucose concentrations in rabbits [8] and also proved useful in newborn infant screening programs [9,10].…”

Quantification of phosphatidylethanol 16:0/18:1, 18:1/18:1, and 16:0/16:0 in venous blood and venous and capillary dried blood spots from patients in alcohol withdrawal and control volunteers

“…Numerous DBS-based methods have been published for a wide variety of applications, including therapeutic drug monitoring and toxicology [22]. Also alcohol markers such as ethyl glucuronide, ethyl sulphate and PEths have been determined, starting from DBS ( [15,18,21,[23][24][25]; reviewed by Sadones et al, 2014 [26]). Since 2011, two publications have reported on the quantification of PEth 16:0/18:1 [15,18] and PEth 18:1/18:1 [15] in V-DBS samples, while only one [21] reported on the analysis of C-DBS samples (detection of PEth 16:0/18:1 in newborns to detect prenatal alcohol exposure).…”

Alternative Sampling Strategies for Cytochrome P450 Phenotyping

“…The availability of highly sensitive analytical techniques, mainly liquid chromatographytandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), resulted in an exponential increase in the interest in DBS for applications in other fields, including therapeutic drug monitoring [16,17], toxicology [18,19] and toxico-and pharmacokinetic studies in (pre-)clinical phases of drug development [20][21][22]. In general, DBS are prepared by applying a drop of capillary blood, obtained by a finger or heel prick, on a dedicated filter paper card.…”