Startseite Urinary prevalence, metabolite detection rates, temporal patterns and evaluation of suitable LC-MS/MS targets to document synthetic cannabinoid intake in US military urine specimens
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Urinary prevalence, metabolite detection rates, temporal patterns and evaluation of suitable LC-MS/MS targets to document synthetic cannabinoid intake in US military urine specimens

  • Ariane Wohlfarth , Karl B. Scheidweiler , Marisol Castaneto , Adarsh S. Gandhi , Nathalie A. Desrosiers , Kevin L. Klette , Thomas M. Martin und Marilyn A. Huestis EMAIL logo
Veröffentlicht/Copyright: 27. September 2014
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Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (CCLM)
Aus der Zeitschrift Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (CCLM) Band 53 Heft 3

Abstract

Background: Identifying synthetic cannabinoid designer drug abuse challenges toxicologists and drug testing programs. The best analytical approach for reliably documenting intake of emerging synthetic cannabinoids is unknown. Primarily metabolites are found in urine, but optimal metabolite targets remain unknown, and definitive identification is complicated by converging metabolic pathways.

Methods: We screened 20,017 US military urine specimens collected from service members worldwide for synthetic cannabinoids between July 2011 and June 2012. We confirmed 1432 presumptive positive and 1069 presumptive negative specimens by qualitative liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) analysis including 29 biomarkers for JWH-018, JWH-073, JWH-081, JWH-122, JWH-200, JWH-210, JWH-250, RCS-4, AM2201 and MAM2201. Specimen preparation included enzyme hydrolysis and acetonitrile precipitation prior to LC-MS/MS analysis. We evaluated individual synthetic cannabinoid metabolite detection rates, prevalence, temporal patterns and suitable targets for analytical procedures.

Results: Prevalence was 1.4% with 290 confirmed positive specimens, 92% JWH-018, 54% AM2201 and 39% JWH-122 metabolites. JWH-073, JWH-210 and JWH-250 also were identified in 37%, 4% and 8% of specimens, respectively. The United States Army Criminal Investigation Command seizure pattern for synthetic cannabinoid compounds matched our urine specimen results over the time frame of the study. Apart from one exception (AM2201), no parent compounds were observed.

Conclusions: Hydroxyalkyl metabolites accounted for most confirmed positive tests, and in many cases, two metabolites were identified, increasing confidence in the results, and improving detection rates. These data also emphasize the need for new designer drug metabolism studies to provide relevant targets for synthetic cannabinoid identification.

Keywords: liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS); metabolites; qualitative confirmation; synthetic cannabinoids; urine
Corresponding author: Professor Dr. Dr. (h.c.) Marilyn A. Huestis, Chief, National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, Chemistry and Drug Metabolism, IRP, 251 Bayview Boulevard Suite 200, Room 05A-721, Baltimore, MD 21224, USA, Phone: +1 443 740 2524, Fax: +1 443 740 2823, E-mail:
aPresent address: Department of Bioanalysis and Physiology, Lundbeck Research Inc., Paramus, NJ, USA

Acknowledgments

Assistance and support of the Forensic Toxicology Drug Testing Laboratory, Fort Meade, MD, are greatly appreciated.

Author contributions: All the authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this submitted manuscript and approved submission.

Financial support: This research was funded by the Intramural Research Program of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA-IRP) and by an Interagency Agreement (Y3-DA-1116-01) between Department of Defense Counter Narcotics Program and NIDA-IRP.

Employment or leadership: None declared.

Honorarium: None declared.

Competing interests: The funding organization(s) played no role in the study design; in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; or in the decision to submit the report for publication.

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Supplemental Material

The online version of this article (DOI: 10.1515/cclm-2014-0612) offers supplementary material, available to authorized users.

Received: 2014-6-10
Accepted: 2014-8-24
Published Online: 2014-9-27
Published in Print: 2015-2-1

©2015 by De Gruyter

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https://doi.org/10.1515/cclm-2014-0612
Schlagwörter für diesen Artikel
liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS); metabolites; qualitative confirmation; synthetic cannabinoids; urine

Artikel in diesem Heft

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Editorials
  3. Variable accuracy of home pregnancy tests: truth in advertising?
  4. The highs and lows of tumor biomarkers: lost illusions
  5. Mini Review
  6. Matrix metalloproteinases as biomarkers of disease: updates and new insights
  7. Opinion Papers
  8. Preanalytical quality improvement. In pursuit of harmony, on behalf of European Federation for Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (EFLM) Working group for Preanalytical Phase (WG-PRE)
  9. Colour coding for blood collection tube closures – a call for harmonisation
  10. Harmonization protocols for thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) immunoassays: different approaches based on the consensus mean value
  11. Genetics and Molecular Diagnostics
  12. Detection of HLA-B*58:01 with TaqMan assay and its association with allopurinol-induced sCADR
  13. General Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine
  14. Comparison of analytical sensitivity and women’s interpretation of home pregnancy tests
  15. Accuracy of GFR estimating equations combining standardized cystatin C and creatinine assays: a cross-sectional study in Sweden
  16. Immunoassay of thyroid peroxidase autoantibodies: diagnostic performance in automated third generation methods. A multicentre evaluation
  17. Urinary prevalence, metabolite detection rates, temporal patterns and evaluation of suitable LC-MS/MS targets to document synthetic cannabinoid intake in US military urine specimens
  18. Development and validation of a HPLC-UV method for the quantification of antiepileptic drugs in dried plasma spots
  19. One year B-vitamins increases serum and whole blood folate forms and lowers plasma homocysteine in older Germans
  20. Role of cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers to predict conversion to dementia in patients with mild cognitive impairment: a clinical cohort study
  21. Reference Values and Biological Variations
  22. Salivary morning androstenedione and 17α-OH progesterone levels in childhood and puberty in patients with classic congenital adrenal hyperplasia
  23. The baseline serum value of α-amylase is a significant predictor of distance running performance
  24. Cancer Diagnostics
  25. Urinary thiosulfate as failed prostate cancer biomarker – an exemplary multicenter re-evaluation study
  26. Clinical utility of determining tumor markers in patients with signs and symptoms of cancer
  27. Uric acid levels in blood are associated with clinical outcome in soft-tissue sarcoma patients
  28. The lymphocyte to monocyte ratio in peripheral blood represents a novel prognostic marker in patients with pancreatic cancer
  29. Cardiovascular Diseases
  30. Predictive value for death and rehospitalization of 30-day postdischarge B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) in elderly patients with heart failure. Sub-analysis of Italian RED Study
  31. Letters to the Editors
  32. Pre-analytical stability of 25(OH)-vitamin D in primary collection tubes
  33. Effects of lipemia on osmolality in native lipemic material and intravenous lipid emulsion added sera
  34. Does creatinine analytical performance support robust identification of acute kidney injury within individual laboratories in a region
  35. High serum amylase levels may reflect a wide spectrum of health benefits
  36. Optimal cut-off concentration for a faecal immunochemical test for haemoglobin by Hemo Techt NS-Plus C15 system for the colorectal cancer screening
  37. MTHFR C677T allelic variant is not associated with plasma and cerebrospinal fluid homocysteine in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
  38. Analytical assessment of bone serum markers in patients suffering from spina bifida
  39. Serum concentrations and urinary excretion of homogentisic acid and tyrosine in normal subjects
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