title: Monitoring of Levamisole Concentration in Serum of Traffic Participants after Cocaine Consumption.
abstract: This study highlights the problem of levamisole-adulterated cocaine in context of active traffic participation. For the purposes of levamisole concentration monitoring in human serum, an analytical method based on LC-MS/MS and solid-phase extraction was applied. A Luna 5 μm C18 (2) 100 A, 150 mm × 2 mm column and a mobile phase consisting of A (H2 O/methanol = 95/5, v/v) and B (H2 O/methanol = 3/97, v/v), both with 10 mM ammonium acetate and with 0.1% acetic acid (pH = 3.2), were used. The validation experiments demonstrated that the method applied was appropriate for levamisole quantification in human serum. For 23% of levamisole-positive samples, the concentrations exceeded 20 ng/mL. Therefore, the interaction of this drug with cocaine has to be considered as important for active traffic participation. As a consequence, monitoring of levamisole concentration in human serum is recommended, as long as it is used as cocaine adulterant.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Legal Medicine, Hannover Medical School (MHH), Carl-Neuberg-Str. 1, D-30625, Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: Marek
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dziadosz
authors.affiliation: Institute of Legal Medicine, Hannover Medical School (MHH), Carl-Neuberg-Str. 1, D-30625, Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Klintschar
authors.affiliation: Institute of Legal Medicine, Hannover Medical School (MHH), Carl-Neuberg-Str. 1, D-30625, Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: Jörg
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Teske
mesh_terms: D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D002853:Chromatography, Liquid; D003042:Cocaine / Q000097:blood*; D019970:Cocaine-Related Disorders; D004340:Drug Contamination; D006801:Humans; D007978:Levamisole / Q000097:blood*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D053719:Tandem Mass Spectrometry
chemical_list: D007978:Levamisole; D003042:Cocaine
keywords: adulterant; cocaine; forensic science; forensic toxicology; levamisole; liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry