Drugs of abuse: A narrative review of recent trends in biological sample preparation and chromatographic techniques

Abstract

IntroductionIncreasing numbers of drug of abuse users worldwide, combined with polyconsumption and appearance of new psychoactive drugs, have become a potential public health problem. Besides the sale of traditional herbal substances, there is evidence of the expansion of an active market for synthetic drugs and the non-medical use of prescription ones. Forensic, regulatory and health emergency organizations routinely need to use sensitive and specific analytical assays to identify and quantify drugs and the products resulting from the associations due to polyconsumption in biological samples. The appropriate choice of the sample for toxicological analyses and the preparation technique of the selected sample coupled to the chromatographic method applied are highly critical steps. ObjectiveThis paper aims to updating knowledge on the analysis of drugs of abuse in biological matrices. Methodology: a narrative review of forensic analytic methodologies (sample preparation and chromatography analysis) for drugs, including options on different samples such as blood, urine, hair, bones, oral fluid and others. Results and DiscussionsAn in-depth analysis is provided on variables of sample preparation techniques employed in recent years, drug concentrations in conventional and alternative specimens and characteristics of chromatographic analyses and mass spectrometry. ConclusionThe method to be chosen by the toxicologist depends on factors such as the purpose of analysis, analyte characteristics, sample feasibility and the availability of analytical techniques. To overcome the challenges posed in drug analysis, future research efforts should be directed towards the development of multidrug methods with the application of miniaturized and automated sample preparation techniques.