Abstract
BackgroundThe analysis of hair samples for the detection of drugs has become one of the convincing strategies in the field of forensic toxicology. A large number of cases concerning heroin abuse or its byproducts have been documented under the Control of Narcotic Substances Act, 1997, over the past decade. The present study was carried out with an aim to evaluate the primary metabolite of heroin, i.e., 6-monoacetylemorphine (6-MAM), in hair samples of addicts and subjects undergoing rehabilitation, thereafter accessing the success rate of the rehabilitation program at the de-addiction center.ResultsHair samples were randomly collected from 20 regular heroin addicts and 20 heroin addicts from their past, from the rehabilitation center, of different age groups. Samples were cleaned, digested, and extracted using an alkaline digestion mediator methyl tertiary butyl ether, followed by quantification of 6-MAM via gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS). The mean concentration of 6-MAM in regular heroin addicts detected was 7.80 ng/mg and 2.34 ng/mg in samples of subjects undergoing rehabilitation at the de-addiction center, respectively.ConclusionTraces of 6-MAM in the hair sample of heroin addicts can be efficiently detected days after the last intake of heroin. In addition to that, our findings also give an idea for future evaluating the approximate timeframe for detection of 6-MAM and/or other metabolites of heroin in the hair sample. However, in the future, by carefully analyzing the hair samples that can be taken from rehabilitation centers from target subjects at different time intervals, the exact duration of traceable quantity of 6-MAM can be determined in the hair sample. Finally, it can be concluded that there is a significant success rate of the rehabilitation program at de-addiction centers in connection with dragging the 6-MAM level from the body.
Highlights
The analysis of hair samples for the detection of drugs has become one of the convincing strategies in the field of forensic toxicology
The present study was conducted with an aim to appraise the success rate of a de-addiction center by comparing the levels of 6-MAM traces in hair samples in regular heroin abusers and subjects, undergoing rehabilitation at the de-addiction center, paving the way to develop a mechanism for estimating the retention time of 6-MAM in hair samples of addicts via gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) using an alkaline extracting agent methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE)
ALinearity is described by the determination coefficient for the calibration curve (y=ax+b). bThe limit of detection (LOD) was based on the concentration corresponding to a signal plus 3 standard deviations from the mean of 10 replicates of the blank hair. cThe lower limit of quantification (LLOQ) was defined as the lowest concentration on the calibration curve with precision (CV%) less than 20% and accuracy within ±20%
Summary
The analysis of hair samples for the detection of drugs has become one of the convincing strategies in the field of forensic toxicology. Heroin is a controlled substance; it interrupts the brain and causes euphoria (sense of well-being), hallucination (changes the perception), and how one feels and how one’s body responds to pain sensation, making it a popular addictive drug. It is synthetically produced utilizing opium as its primary source. Among various ways of detecting the presence of drugs and/or their metabolites such as 6-MAM and morphine in a human body, one method that is being broadly used in recent days for forensic analysis is hair sampling of the suspect [6, 7]. The present study was conducted with an aim to appraise the success rate of a de-addiction center by comparing the levels of 6-MAM traces in hair samples in regular heroin abusers and subjects (previously heroin addicts), undergoing rehabilitation at the de-addiction center, paving the way to develop a mechanism for estimating the retention time of 6-MAM in hair samples of addicts via gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) using an alkaline extracting agent methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE)
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