title: Evaluation of ketamine abuse using hair analysis: concentration trends in a Singapore population.
abstract: This paper presents a method for the detection of ketamine in hair. Hair samples (25 mg) were washed, pulverized, and digested in hydrochloric acid (0.5 M) overnight at 45 degrees C. The samples were extracted by an automated solid-phase extraction procedure, and the extracts were subsequently analyzed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry in selected ion monitoring mode. Linearity up to 120 ng/mg was obtained for both ketamine and norketamine with correlation coefficients of 0.9987 and 0.9985, respectively. Limit of detection was found to be at 0.4 ng/mg for both drugs while the limit of quantitation was found to be 0.6 and 0.8 ng/mg for ketamine and norketamine, respectively. The validated method was used in the analysis of 91 hair segments obtained from 54 ketamine abusers. Based upon the voluntary confession of the ketamine abusers, a correlation between the amount of ketamine detected and the frequency of abuse was observed.
authors.affiliation: Narcotics II Laboratory, Centre for Forensic Science, Health Sciences Authority, Singapore. LEONG_HUEY_SZE@hsa.gov.sg
authors.forename: H S
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Leong
authors.forename: N L
authors.initials: NL
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.forename: C P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Lui
authors.forename: T K
authors.initials: TK
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; D006197:Hair / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D006851:Hydrochloric Acid; D006868:Hydrolysis; D013287:Illicit Drugs / Q000032:analysis*; D007649:Ketamine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000032:analysis; D008297:Male; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012846:Singapore; D015813:Substance Abuse Detection / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D013287:Illicit Drugs; D007649:Ketamine; D006851:Hydrochloric Acid; C033419:norketamine