title: Quantitation of total 11-nor-9-carboxy-delta 9-tetrahydrocannabinol in urine and blood using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS).
abstract: Marijuana, which is made from crushing the leaves, flowers, and sometimes the stems of the plant Cannabis sativa, contains more than 30 cannabinoids. The major psychoactive cannabinoid is delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). The major metabolite of THC, 11-nor-delta 9-carboxy-tetrahydrocannabionol (THC-COOH), is excreted in the urine primarily as a glucuronide conjugate and is commonly analyzed in biological specimens for detecting marijuana usage. The procedure described here involves the addition of deuterated internal standard THC-COOH-d9 into the sample followed by hydrolysis of conjugated THC-COOH by alkali. THC-COOH is extracted from urine or blood using liquid-liquid extraction followed by preparation of its trimethylsilyl derivatives. The analysis of derivatized THC-COOH is performed using gas-chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). Quantification of the drug in a sample is achieved by comparing the responses of the unknown sample to the responses of the calibrators using selected ion monitoring.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Children's Mercy Hospitals and Clinics, Kansas City, MO, USA.
authors.forename: C Clinton
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Frazee
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kiscoan
authors.forename: Uttam
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Garg
mesh_terms: D002188:Cannabis / Q000378:metabolism; D013759:Dronabinol / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000097:blood / Q000652:urine; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D015203:Reproducibility of Results
chemical_list: C016780:11-nor-delta(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol-9-carboxylic acid; D013759:Dronabinol