title: Determination of morphine in the hair of heroin addicts by high performance liquid chromatography with fluorimetric detection.
abstract: A procedure has been presented for the quantitative determination of morphine contained in the hair of heroin addicts, by means of heat-acid hydrolysis, pre-column dansyl derivatization, straight phase liquid chromatography, and fluorescence detection. External standardization was used. Intra-assay and day-to-day variation coefficients were 5.6 and 7.8%, respectively (n = 10), when hair containing 1 ng/mg of morphine was assayed. Hair samples of 22 heroin addicts showed positive results in the range 0.08 to 15.7 ng/mg. No false positive results were found in 20 control subjects. A close correlation was shown between high performance liquid chromatography and radioimmunoassay results (y = 0.97x + 0.26)(r = 0.997, n = 15). Morphine hair content results significantly correlated with the grade of heroin use roughly estimated by means of serial determinations of morphine in urines during the last months before hair sampling.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D003619:Dansyl Compounds; D006197:Hair / Q000032:analysis*; D006556:Heroin Dependence / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D007202:Indicators and Reagents; D009020:Morphine / Q000032:analysis*; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence
chemical_list: D003619:Dansyl Compounds; D007202:Indicators and Reagents; D009020:Morphine