title: ELISA Detection of 30 New Amphetamine Designer Drugs in Whole Blood, Urine and Oral Fluid using Neogen® "Amphetamine" and "Methamphetamine/MDMA" Kits.
abstract: Amphetamine designer drugs are central nervous system stimulants that are widely disseminated in the illegal market. Generally, in forensic laboratories, immunoassay methods are the first line of screening for these types of drugs in a biological specimen (typically blood, urine or oral fluid). In this article, we describe the cross-reactivity profiles of 30 new amphetamine designer drugs, using the Neogen(®) [Amphetamine Specific and Methamphetamine/3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) assays] drug tests. To assess the potential matrix influence on the response, each assay was tested on whole blood, urine and oral fluid. Concentrations of 10,000 ng/mL were not sufficient to produce a positive response for the majority of the analyzed amphetamines. This clearly demonstrates that, although these kits are extremely effective for the target drugs for which they are intended (amphetamine, methamphetamine and MDMA), they cannot be used to reliably identify the tested designer drugs in real cases, as these concentrations greatly exceed those expected to be found in forensic samples.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Chimica e Farmacia, Università di Sassari, Via Muroni 23, 07100 Sassari, Italy.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nieddu
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Chimica e Farmacia, Università di Sassari, Via Muroni 23, 07100 Sassari, Italy lburrai@uniss.it.
authors.forename: Lucia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Burrai
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Medicina Veterinaria, Università di Sassari, Via Vienna 2, 07100 Sassari, Italy.
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Baralla
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Medicina Veterinaria, Università di Sassari, Via Vienna 2, 07100 Sassari, Italy.
authors.forename: Valeria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Pasciu
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Medicina Veterinaria, Università di Sassari, Via Vienna 2, 07100 Sassari, Italy.
authors.forename: Maria Vittoria
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Varoni
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Chimica e Farmacia, Università di Sassari, Via Muroni 23, 07100 Sassari, Italy.
authors.forename: Irene
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Briguglio
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Medicina Veterinaria, Università di Sassari, Via Vienna 2, 07100 Sassari, Italy.
authors.forename: Maria Piera
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Demontis
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Chimica e Farmacia, Università di Sassari, Via Muroni 23, 07100 Sassari, Italy.
authors.forename: Gianpiero
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Boatto
mesh_terms: D000661:Amphetamine / Q000032:analysis* / Q000097:blood; D001769:Blood / Q000378:metabolism; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D013287:Illicit Drugs / Q000032:analysis* / Q000378:metabolism; D018817:N-Methyl-3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism; D012463:Saliva / Q000737:chemistry; D015813:Substance Abuse Detection / Q000379:methods*; D014556:Urine / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D013287:Illicit Drugs; D000661:Amphetamine; D018817:N-Methyl-3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine