Abstract
Hair analysis is used in some branches of alternative medicine as a method of investigation to assist diagnosis. It is very useful when a history of drug use is difficult or impossible to obtain. In this re-search suspended droplet liquid phase microextraction (SDLME) coupled with high-performance liquid chromatography and photodiode array detection (HPLC-DAD) was used for preconcentration and analysis of scopolamine in hair samples. Therefore scopolamine was extracted from 2.0 g hair sample incubated in methanol (5 h, 50°C) and adjusted to pH 7.4 with, Na2HPO4–H3PO4 buffer solution (donor phase, P1) into an organic phase (P2) 350 µl n-octanol and then back extracted into a micro drop of aqueous acceptor phase (P3), adjusted at pH 3, with HCL. The extraction time, T1 (from P1 to P2) was 2 min and T2 (from P2 to P3) was 30 min. Optimum instrumental conditions were included; A C18 reverse phase column with water-acetonitrile-methanol (80:10:10) as the mobile phase was used and wavelength for UV detec-tion was 205 nm. The linear range was 10 to 10000 ng●mL–1, enrichment factor, detec-tion limit and relative standard deviation were 77, 0.1 ng●mL–1 and 5.4 respectively.
Highlights
Tropane alkaloids such as atropine and scopolamine (Figure 1) are muscarinic antagonists that block neuron-transmission across muscarinic cholinergic receptors
The main aim of our work is to develop a preconcentration suspended droplet liquid phase microextraction (SDLME) technique for scopolamine extraction to make its evaluation in hair samples with HPLC method feasible
The concentrations of scopolamine in two Hair samples are shown in Table 2.These samples were spiked with scopolamine standards to assess matrix effects. These results demonstrated that the hair sample matrices had little effect on the SDLME of scopolamine
Summary
Tropane alkaloids such as atropine and scopolamine (Figure 1) are muscarinic antagonists that block neuron-transmission across muscarinic cholinergic receptors. The toxicity of these drugs has been well known for centuries and has been linked to poisoning and death, usually due to heart or respiratory failure. Scopolamine was shown toxic effects on central and peripheral nervous system [2]. Besides an increase of recreational abuse [3], scopolamine has been occasionally used for its sedative properties. Tropane alkaloid determination in biological samples such as serum, blood, urine and hair has a significant importance in poisoning and forensic case [4]. Hair analysis is a new perspective in forensic toxicology [5,6]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
