Journal of Analytical Toxicology

While many NPSs often disappear from the drug market rather quickly, some, such as synthetic cathinones (SCs), still remain due to their popularity among users. The current knowledge of SCs concentrations in blood samples is based mainly on the published case reports of intoxications or fatalities caused by SCs intake. The aim of the present study was to present and interpret the obtained toxicological analysis results of these cases, in which it was possible to determine or detect the presence of one of the isomers of chloromethcathonone (CMC) along with its intake biomarker - dihydro-CMC...

Desalkylgidazepam, also known as bromonordiazepam, is the latest designer benzodiazepine to appear in postmortem blood samples in British Columbia. Our laboratory was first alerted to the presence of desalkylgidazepam in seized drug samples in May 2022 and the analyte was added to an in-house library shortly thereafter. Previously acquired spectra from routine death investigation cases were reprocessed using the updated library with the first presumptive identification of desalkylgidazepam occurring in a sample received in April 2022...

Δ8-Tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ8-THC) recently became widely available as an alternative to cannabis. Δ8-THC is likely impairing and poses a threat to workplace and traffic safety. In the present study the prevalence of Δ8-THC in workplace drug testing was investigated by analyzing 1,504 urine specimens with a positive immunoassay cannabinoid initial test using an LC-MS-MS method quantifying 15 cannabinoid analytes after hydrolysis. Δ8-tetrahydrocannabinol-9-carboxylic acid (Δ8-THC-COOH) was detected in 378 urine specimens (15 ng/mL cutoff), compared to 1,144 specimens containing Δ9-THC-COOH...

Forensic toxicology laboratories often encounter casework backlogs, which raise concerns for drug stability that can be affected by long storage times, temperature, and preservatives, or the lack thereof. The focus of this research was to evaluate the impact of these factors on the stability of 17 synthetic cannabinoids in human whole blood and 10 associated metabolites in human urine. The fortified biological specimens were stored under room temperature (20°C), refrigerator (4°C), and freezer (-20°C) conditions for a period of 52 weeks...

An increase in suicide cases by sodium nitrate and sodium nitrite ingestion has been noted in the scientific literature. We report on the possible impact of nitrate/nitrite-caused methemoglobinemia on carboxyhemoglobin measurement by spectrophotometric methods. Elevated methemoglobin saturation may result in insufficient reducing agent to convert methemoglobin to deoxygenated hemoglobin, affecting the measured total hemoglobin and carboxyhemoglobin saturation. We highlight four cases where the cause of death was attributed to sodium nitrate or sodium nitrite ingestion...

In recent years, mitragynine has been consistently detected in driving under the influence of drug (DUID) cases. In this paper, we evaluate three years (2017-2019) worth of DUID data from arrested drivers in Orange County, CA, USA. From the 25,398 DUID cases received in those three years, there were 60 (0.24%) cases with detectable concentrations, >10 ng/mL, of mitragynine. The majority of the drivers were male (90%), and were stopped during the week (81%), considered Monday 0000 to Friday 1159. The concentration range for all mitragynine cases was 10...

Psilocin is an active substance and dephosphorylated product of psilocybin formed after ingestion of mushrooms. The low stability caused by the quick oxidation of this analyte requires sensitive methods for its determination in biological matrices. In this work, we described a method development, optimization, and validation for the quantification of psilocin in authentic oral fluid samples by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) was performed using 100 µL of oral fluid samples collected with Quantisal™ device and t-butyl methyl ether (MTBE) as the extraction solvent...

Urine has been the preferred matrix for monitoring heroin and methadone adherence due to its large detection window. Drawbacks such as privacy concerns and adulteration require however other matrices. The study aims to determine if oral fluid and exhaled breath are suitable alternatives for heroin and methadone monitoring and to assess the detection time in exhaled breath. Forty-three participants, all on methadone and heroin-assisted treatment, were studied. Participants were monitored after the first and right before the second dosage of heroin...

Starting in 2019, an emerging class of novel opioids causing public health concern was benzimidazole opioids, also known as "nitazenes". Two nitazenes, isotonitazene and metonitazene, were detected in postmortem samples received at the NYC Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. A protein precipitation extraction procedure was developed and validated for metonitazene and isotonitazene using 50 μL of blood, serum, liver, brain, and urine utilizing liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS-MS)...

A sensitive method for the qualitative screening of synthetic cannabinoids and opioids in whole blood was developed and validated using alkaline liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) and liquid chromatography - time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC-QTOF-MS). Estimated limits of detection for validated compounds ranged from 0.03-0.29 µg/L (median, 0.04 µg/L) for the 27 opioids and from 0.04-0.5 µg/L (median, 0.07 µg/L) for the 23 synthetic cannabinoids. Data processing occurred in two stages; first a targeted screen was performed using an in-house database containing retention times, accurate masses and MS/MS spectra for 79 cannabinoids and 53 opioids...

There has been a surge in the presence and use of cannabinoids since the federal legalization of hemp (Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018). This increase is attributed not only to the use of ∆9-tetrahydrocannabinol (∆9-THC) and cannabidiol (CBD), the most abundant phytocannabinoid components of cannabis and hemp, respectively, but with the use of many other emerging THC analogs. Structurally, these analogs are similar to ∆9-THC. Urine specimens for drug analysis are often collected offsite and transported to a laboratory for analysis...

There has been an exponential surge in the presence and use of cannabinoids since the federal legalization of hemp (Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018). This growth is attributed to Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Delta-9-THC) and cannabidiol (CBD), the most abundant phytocannabinoid components of cannabis and hemp, respectively, but with many other emerging THC analogs. Structurally, these analogs are similar to Delta-9-THC, yet very little information is available about their potency and even less information is available regarding their detectability using commercially available cannabinoid screening kits...

Vadadustat is a newly launched hypoxia-inducible factor stabilizer with anti-anemia and erythropoietic effects; however, its use in horses is expressly forbidden in both racing and equestrian competitions. Following our previous report on the pharmacokinetic study of vadadustat in horse plasma and urine, a long-term longitudinal analysis of vadadustat in horse hair after nasoesophageal administration (3 g/day for 3 days) to three thoroughbred mares is described in this study. Our main objective is to further extend the detection period of vadadustat for the purpose of doping control...

Assessing benzene exposure is a public health priority due to its deleterious health effects and ubiquitous industrial and environmental sources of exposure. Phenyl mercapturic acid (PhMA) is a commonly used urinary biomarker to assess benzene exposure. However, recent work has identified significant interlaboratory variation in urinary PhMA concentrations related to methodological differences. In this study, we present urinary 6-hydroxy-2,4-cyclohexadienyl mercapturic acid (pre-PhMA), a metabolite that undergoes acid-catalyzed dehydration to form PhMA, as a novel and specific urinary biomarker for assessing benzene exposure...

Over the past decades, the calls to improve the robustness of interpretation in forensic science have increased in magnitude. Forensic toxicology has seen limited progress in this regard. In this work, we propose a transparent interpretive pathway for use in post-mortem forensic toxicology cases. This process allows the selection of the interpretive methodology based on the amount of previous information that is available for the substance(s) in question. One approach is an assessment of various pharmacological and circumstantial considerations resulting in a toxicological significance score (TSS), which is particularly useful in situations where limited information about a substance is available...

Few studies support the usage of <1% nominal sodium fluoride (NaF) to preserve ethanol in antemortem blood. Of these studies, several are limited by short study durations of 90 days or less, and there is limited research of authentic samples preserved with <1% NaF. In this retrospective analysis, data from initial and reanalysis testing of blood alcohol concentration (BAC) in antemortem blood collected in 6 mL gray-top tubes (providing 0.25% nominal NaF) has been compiled, to evaluate changes in ethanol concentration that occurred after periods of refrigerated storage...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

In recent years, the emergence of the novel designer benzodiazepine 4'-chloro deschloroalprazolam has presented a new challenge for forensic laboratories by interfering with the identification and quantitation of alprazolam. As an isomer of alprazolam, 4'-chloro deschloroalprazolam has similar physicochemical properties and can be misidentified in casework samples as alprazolam without a specific method to differentiate the two analytes. Starting in late 2021, the Houston Forensic Science Center (HFSC) received toxicological and seized drug evidence indicating the presence of 4'-chloro deschloroalprazolam...

This cross-sectional analysis aimed to understand the similarities and differences between drugs detected in syringes collected from syringe service providers in the District of Columbia and fatal overdose deaths captured by the State Unintentional Drug Overdose Reporting System. Substance exposures for these fatal and non-fatal drug use outcomes have not been previously compared. Substance distributions were examined and a paired significance test was used to compare changes over time. Affinity analysis was employed to reveal substance co-occurrences...

Oral fluid (OF) is a valuable specimen for Driving under the influence of drugs (DUID) applications. This study demonstrates the implementation of the first comprehensive OF drug testing program in the United States, including approved roadside screening OF devices for law enforcement and validated LC-MS-MS confirmation methods. Three roadside OF screening devices were evaluated: the Dräger DrugTest® 5000, Abbott SoToxa®, and Randox Evidence MultiSTAT™. Two qualitative LC-MS-MS confirmation methods were validated per ASB Standard 036...