Citation

Pelição FS, Peres MD, Pissinate JF, De Martinis BS. J. Anal. Toxicol. 2014; 38(6): 341-348.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, Preston Publications)

DOI

10.1093/jat/bku039

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

A gas chromatography-mass spectrometric (GC-MS) method was developed and validated for the simultaneous detection and quantification in postmortem whole blood samples of cocaine (COC), amphetamines (AMPs) and cannabis; the main drugs involved in cases of impaired driving in Brazil. The analytes were extracted by solid-phase extraction by means of Bond-Elute Certify cartridges, derivatized with N-methyl-N-(trimethylsilyl)trifluoroacetamide at 80°C for 30 min and analyzed by GC-MS. Linearity ranged from 10 to 500 ng/mL, except for ecgonine methyl ester, for which linearity ranged from 10 to 100 ng/mL. Inter- and intra-day imprecision ranged from 2.8 to 18.4% and from 1.5 to 14.9%, respectively. Accuracy values lay between 86.9 and 104.4%. The limit of quantitation for all drugs was 10 ng/mL and recoveries were >74% for all analytes, except for cannabinoids, which showed poor recovery (~30%). The developed method was applied to real samples collected from deceased victims due to traffic accidents. These samples were selected according to the results obtained in immunoassay screening on collected urine samples. Five samples were positive for the presence of COC and metabolites, four samples were positive for cannabinoids, six samples were positive for AMPs and two samples were drug negative. Some samples were positive for more than one class of drug.

RESULTS obtained from whole blood samples showed good agreement with urine screening. The developed method proved capable of quantifying all three classes of drugs of abuse proposed in this study, through a one-step extraction procedure. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Cannabis impaired driving; DUID; Ethanol impaired driving

Language: en

Keywords

Humans; Brazil; human; Postmortem Changes; substance abuse; cannabis; cannabinoid; Cannabinoids; dronabinol; blood; Amphetamines; Cocaine; article; traffic accident; accuracy; controlled study; Limit of Detection; limit of quantitation; solid phase extraction; drug blood level; metabolite; amphetamine derivative; cocaine; reproducibility; Reproducibility of Results; urinalysis; Substance Abuse Detection; blood sampling; cannabinoid derivative; drug screening; Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; 3,4 methylenedioxyamphetamine; 3,4 methylenedioxymethamphetamine; methamphetamine; n ethyl 3,4 methylenedioxyamphetamine; unclassified drug; mass fragmentography; benzoylecgonine; limit of detection; procedures; devices; 11 nor delta 9 tetrahydrocannabinol 9 carboxylic acid; anhydroecgonine methyl ester; cocaine derivative; derivatization; drug urine level; ecgonine methyl ester; elution; fenproporex; homococaine; immunoassay; n methyl n (trimethylsilyl)trifluoroacetamide; postmortem change; Solid Phase Extraction; tetrahydrocannabinol derivative; trifluoroacetamide derivative