title: Excretion of methadone in sweat of pregnant women throughout gestation after controlled methadone administration.
abstract: Sweat patches (n = 350) were collected throughout gestation from 29 opioid-dependent pregnant women participating in an outpatient methadone-assisted therapy program. Volunteers provided informed consent to participate in institutional review board-approved protocols. Methadone was eluted from sweat patches with sodium acetate buffer, followed by solid-phase extraction and quantification by gas chromatography mass spectrometry (limit of quantification > or = 10 ng/patch). Methadone was present in all weekly patches (n = 311) in concentrations ranging from 10.2 to 12,129.7 nanograms per patch and in 92.3% of short-term patches (n = 39, worn for 12 or 24 hours) in concentrations up to 3303.9 nanograms per patch. Correlation between patch concentrations and total amount of drug administered (r = 0.224), and concentrations and duration of patch wear (r = 0.129) were both weak. Although there were large intra- and intersubject variations in sweat drug concentrations, sweat testing was an effective alternative technique to qualitatively monitor illicit drug use and simultaneously document methadone medication-assisted treatment.
authors.affiliation: Chemistry and Drug Metabolism, Intramural Research Program, National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, MD 21224, USA.
authors.forename: Allan J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Barnes
authors.forename: Bertrand R
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Brunet
authors.forename: Robin E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Choo
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mura
authors.forename: Rolley E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: Hendrée E
authors.initials: HE
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.forename: Marilyn A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Huestis
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000701:Analgesics, Opioid / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D016903:Drug Monitoring; D005260:Female; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; D006801:Humans; D008691:Methadone / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D009293:Opioid-Related Disorders / Q000378:metabolism / Q000534:rehabilitation; D011247:Pregnancy / Q000378:metabolism*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013048:Specimen Handling; D013542:Sweat / Q000378:metabolism*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000701:Analgesics, Opioid; D008691:Methadone