Abstract
BackgroundCathinones better known as bath salts have been listed as illicit drugs since 2011. Few studies have focused on the analytical extraction techniques and the matrix effect affecting their detection and quantification in biological samples. Matrix suppression of the signal of cathinones has been previously observed in urine sample by LC-MS/MS. This study is aimed to use the standard addition method to overcome the plasma matrix effect on the quantification of cathinone and mephedrone by LC-MS/MS.FindingsThe results showed the matrix effect for cathinone at lowest tested concentration (10 ng/ml) was significantly reduced from 210.9 to 133.7%, but not for mephedrone (from 196.8 to 191.9%) by using standard addition method. At the higher tested concentrations of samples, the matrix effects were significantly reduced for both cathinone and mephedrone by using standard addition technique.ConclusionsStandard addition quantitative technique can serve as an alternative quantitative method for LC-MS/MS when suitable internal standards are not available.
Highlights
CathinonesThe Controlled Substances Act, Title II of the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970 made it illegal to manufacture, import, possess, use or distribute certain types of “scheduled drugs”
The amphetamine assay with three cutoffs 300, 500 and 1000 ng/ml d-methamphetamine and the ecstasy assay with two cutoffs 300 and 500 ng/ml MDMA from Siemens were chosen for this study
Percent recovery of initial cathinone concentration was 137.6, 93.6 and 103.6% for 10, 33 and 100ng/mL cathinone respectively using the standard addition method with the X-intercept and 120.9, 91.1 and 103.2% with calculations based on the Y-intercept (Table 4)
Summary
CathinonesThe Controlled Substances Act, Title II of the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970 made it illegal to manufacture, import, possess, use or distribute certain types of “scheduled drugs”. The scheduling of drugs puts substances into categories based on their therapeutic capability and potential for abuse (U.S Department of Health and Human Services, 2009). This act unknowingly prompted a dramatic shift in the drug market. The development of compounds that interact in very similar ways and yield effects that closely resemble that of their illicit precursors created a new type of drug market. This would change the way that synthetic drugs are created, detected and policed. The term “Designer Drug” was adopted to describe the way that these substances are altered to mimic the psychological and physiological properties of illicit drugs and to maneuver around law and regulation (DeCaprio, Hearn, & Swortwood, 2013)
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