title: Rapid extraction, identification and quantification of drugs of abuse in hair by immunoassay and ultra-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Drug testing in hair is a unique analysis in pharmacotoxicology for establishing a past repeated history of consumption or passive exposure to psychotropic substances. A rather lengthy sample treatment is usually required before parent drugs and eventual metabolites are amenable to quali-quantitative analysis.
  
  
  METHODS
  We evaluated a high throughput screening and confirmation analysis of drugs of abuse in hair by immunoassay and a validated ultra-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) after applying a rapid digestion of the keratin matrix with VMA-T reagent before screening assay and M3 reagent before confirmatory analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Samples digestion with VMA-T reagent and immunometric screening analysis of hair calibrators, controls and clinical samples for a total of 150 samples was completed in 4 h. No false-positive and -negative results were found for the control material. UPLC-MS/MS analysis confirmed all of the 31 adult hair samples positive to the screening test using internationally established cut-offs, and identified and quantified drugs of abuse in 32 pediatric hair samples, applying lower limits of quantification from 0.01 to 0.1 ng analyte per mg hair. Analytical recovery was between 70.9% and 100.7%. Intra- and inter-assay imprecision and inaccuracy were always lower than 10%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Rapid extraction, identification and quantification of drugs of abuse in hair by immunoassay and UPLC-MS/MS was tested for its feasibility in clinical samples and provided excellent results for rapid and effective drug testing in hair in epidemiological studies.
authors.forename: Simona
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pichini
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gottardi
authors.forename: Emilia
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Marchei
authors.forename: Fiorenza
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Svaizer
authors.forename: Manuela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pellegrini
authors.forename: Maria Concetta
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Rotolo
authors.forename: Oscar García
authors.initials: OG
authors.lastname: Algar
authors.forename: Roberta
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pacifici
mesh_terms: D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D006197:Hair / Q000737:chemistry; D006801:Humans; D013287:Illicit Drugs / Q000032:analysis*; D007118:Immunoassay; D007633:Keratins / Q000737:chemistry; D053719:Tandem Mass Spectrometry
chemical_list: D013287:Illicit Drugs; D007633:Keratins