Disappearance of cocaine from human hair after abstinence.
In this work the study of the disappearance of cocaine in hair is reported. The subject of the study is a woman who stopped the consumption of cocaine after a period of drug abuse of over 1 year. Hair samples were collected over a period of 10 months. During this time the absence of cocaine intake was monitored by the toxicological analysis of urine, performed every 2 days. After decontamination with methanol, the hair sample, cut in two segments (0-1.5 and 1.5-3 cm from the hair root) was added with cocaine-D(3) (internal standard), hydrolyzed and extracted with chloroform/isopropanol (9:1). The extract was evaporated to dryness, reconstituted in 25 microl of ethyl acetate and analyzed by GC-MS in SIM mode. The obtained results show that the incorporation of cocaine in hair decreased during the first 3 months after the last consumption and after this period of time no cocaine was found in the hair sections closest to the root.
Felli
M
M
Institute of Forensic Medicine, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Lago F. Vito 1, Rome, Italy. marialinda.felli@rm.unicatt.it
Martello
S
S
Marsili
R
R
Chiarotti
M
M
D000328:Adult; D003042:Cocaine / Q000032:analysis* / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D019970:Cocaine-Related Disorders / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D018765:Dopamine Uptake Inhibitors / Q000032:analysis* / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D005260:Female; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; D006197:Hair / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D015813:Substance Abuse Detection / Q000379:methods; D013997:Time Factors
D018765:Dopamine Uptake Inhibitors; D003042:Cocaine