title: Drugs of abuse in maternal hair and paired neonatal meconium: an objective assessment of foetal exposure to gestational consumption.
abstract: In a prospective sample of 80 mother-infant dyads, we investigated whether drugs of abuse in maternal hair measured during the pregnancy trimesters were also present in neonatal meconium. Principal drugs of abuse were analyzed in the three consecutive maternal hair segments and meconium samples by ultra-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry assay. Of the 80 mothers, 32 (40%) presented one or more hair shafts with at least one of the analyzed drugs of abuse and/or its metabolites. The drug of abuse with a higher prevalence in our study population was methamphetamine: 19 mothers had methamphetamine in one or more hair segments (59.4%). The second most detected drug of abuse was cocaine; nine mothers presented cocaine in one or more hair segments (28.1%). Nineteen pregnant women consumed at least one drug of abuse during the first trimester, ten continued consuming drugs of abuse during the second trimester; and nine consumed until the end of pregnancy. Five of the nine newborns from mothers who consumed drugs during the whole pregnancy showed drugs of abuse in meconium samples. Newborns from the 23 remaining mothers with one or two hair shafts positive to drugs of abuse did not present drugs in their meconium. Indeed from these results, it seems that discontinuous and/or sporadic consumption during pregnancy could produce a negligible transplacental passage and hence negative results in meconium. Furthermore, the role of placenta in the metabolism and excretion of drugs of abuse is still to be precisely investigated. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
authors.affiliation: Unitat de Recerca Infància I Entorn (URIE), Institut Hospital del Mar d'Investigacions Mèdiques (IMIM), Barcelona, Spain.|Red de Salud Materno-Infantil y del Desarrollo (SAMID), Programa RETICS, Instituto Carlos III, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Xavier
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Joya
authors.affiliation: Department of Therapeutic Research and Medicines Evaluation, Istituto Superiore di Sanitá, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Emilia
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Marchei
authors.affiliation: Unitat de Recerca Infància I Entorn (URIE), Institut Hospital del Mar d'Investigacions Mèdiques (IMIM), Barcelona, Spain.|Red de Salud Materno-Infantil y del Desarrollo (SAMID), Programa RETICS, Instituto Carlos III, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Judith
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Salat-Batlle
authors.affiliation: Unitat de Recerca Infància I Entorn (URIE), Institut Hospital del Mar d'Investigacions Mèdiques (IMIM), Barcelona, Spain.|Red de Salud Materno-Infantil y del Desarrollo (SAMID), Programa RETICS, Instituto Carlos III, Madrid, Spain.|Departament de Pediatria, Obstetrícia i Ginecologia i Medicina Preventiva, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Bellaterra, Spain.
authors.forename: Oscar
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: García-Algar
authors.affiliation: Department of Therapeutic Research and Medicines Evaluation, Istituto Superiore di Sanitá, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Valeria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Calvaresi
authors.affiliation: Department of Therapeutic Research and Medicines Evaluation, Istituto Superiore di Sanitá, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Roberta
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pacifici
authors.affiliation: Department of Therapeutic Research and Medicines Evaluation, Istituto Superiore di Sanitá, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Simona
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pichini
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000779:Anesthetics, Local / Q000032:analysis; D000697:Central Nervous System Stimulants / Q000032:analysis; D003042:Cocaine / Q000032:analysis; D005260:Female; D006197:Hair / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D013287:Illicit Drugs / Q000032:analysis*; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D018811:Maternal Exposure; D008470:Meconium / Q000737:chemistry*; D008694:Methamphetamine / Q000032:analysis; D011247:Pregnancy; D011446:Prospective Studies; D015813:Substance Abuse Detection / Q000379:methods*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000779:Anesthetics, Local; D000697:Central Nervous System Stimulants; D013287:Illicit Drugs; D008694:Methamphetamine; D003042:Cocaine
keywords: drugs of abuse; meconium testing; segmental hair analysis