Determination of cocaine and heroin with their respective metabolites in meconium by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.
The analysis of meconium specimens is a relatively accurate method for the detection of fetal exposure to drugs. The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a method for meconium sample preparation for a gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) confirmation of meconium extracts for cocaine, benzoylecgonine, codeine, morphine and 6-monoacetylmorphine. The analytes were initially extracted from the matrix by methanol. Subsequently a solid-phase extraction with Waters Oasis HLB cartridges was applied. Analytes were determined in GC-MS single monitoring mode. The method was validated in the range 40-2000 ng g(-1) using 0.5 g of meconium per assay. The detector response was linear over the studied range, and limits of quantitation and detection were found to be acceptable. Intra- and inter-batch coefficients of variation oscillated between 2.54% and 20.5%, and mean relative errors were in the range 0.79%-19.9%. The recoveries were higher than 42.1% in all cases. Finally the method was applied to analysis of meconium in newborns to assess fetal exposure to cocaine and opiates.
López
P
P
Institute of Legal Medicine, Forensic Toxicology Service, Faculty of Medicine, San Francisco, s/n, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
Bermejo
A M
AM
Tabernero
M J
MJ
Fernández
P
P
Alvarez
I
I
D003042:Cocaine / Q000032:analysis*; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods*; D003932:Heroin / Q000032:analysis*; D006801:Humans; D008470:Meconium / Q000737:chemistry*
D003932:Heroin; D003042:Cocaine