Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) Analysis of Amphetamine, Methamphetamine, 3,4-Methylenedioxyamphetamine and 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine in Human Hair and Hair Sections
DONG-LIANG LIN1,2*, REA-MING YIN1 AND RAY H. LIU3
1. Department of Forensic Toxicology, Institute of Forensic Medicine, Ministry of Justice,
16, Lane 175, Tong-Hwa St., Taipei City 106, Taiwan, R.O.C.
2. Department of Forensic Medicine, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
3. Department of Medical Technology, Fooyin University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, R.O.C.
(Received: November 11, 2004; Accepted: March 22, 2005)
ABSTRACT
In this paper, the authors describe a sensitive method for simultaneous quantitation of amphetamine (AM), methamphetamine (MA), 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA) and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) in human hair by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Hair samples are initially cut into 0.5-cm sections, washed with methanol, and digested for 1 hr at 80°C in 2 N NaOH and deuterated internal standards. The resulting solutions are processed with a liquid-liquid extraction procedure and further derivatized with heptafluorobutyric anhydride (HFBA) before undergoing GC/MS analysis. The overall protocol achieves
the following results when applied to the analysis of 50 mg drug-free hair specimens fortified with 2-40 ng/mg amphetamines: recovery: 77.45-86.86%; inter-day and intra-day precision ranges: 0.55-7.73% and 0.76-4.79%, respectively; linearity: r2 > 0.997; detection limits: 0.05 ng/mg for AM, MA, and MDMA and 0.1 ng/mg for MDA; and quantitation limits: 0.1 ng/mg for AM, MA, and MDMA and 0.2 ng/mg for MDA. Data derived from our analysis of hair samples collected from 30 self-reported methamphetamine abusers range from 1.39 to 15.41 (mean ± S.D., 5.21 ± 3.25) ng/mg for amphetamine and 12.58 to 173.28 (mean ± S.D., 56.10 ± 36.85) ng/mg for methamphetamine. This method has also been utilized successfully to evaluate the deposition pattern of drugs in head hairs collected from six female methamphetamine abusers staying at a rehabilitation facility. We conclude that this relatively simple protocol can be used for routine and reliable identification and quantitation of AM, MA, MDA, and MDMA in hair.
Key words: hair analysis, amphetamines, drug deposition, drug abuse, GC-MS