Rapid Update of Screening Methods for the Detection of New Psychoactive Substance Use in Human Urine by Software Assisted Metabolite Identification

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The group of new psychoactive substances (NPS) pose a great challenge to the forensic field. In particular, synthetic cannabinoids (SC) offered for purchase have undergone significant structural changes over the last seven years, making immunochemical testing unsuitable. Consequently, mass spectrometric methods are the gold standard but have to be adapted frequently to include newly emerged compounds. Offering a non-invasive sample collection with a relatively wide window of detection, urine analysis is usually the method of choice for abstinence control. However, for urine analysis metabolite identification of the respective SC is inevitable since most of these compounds are metabolized extensively prior to renal excretion. Consequently, the metabolism of new SC needs to be known prior to updating analytical methods. In cases where no authentic human sample material with confirmed uptake of the particular compound is available, pooled human liver microsomes (pHLM) offer an inexpensive and fast alternative to gain preliminary data on phase I metabolites that may be relevant for analysis of human urine samples.

The approach described here can be helpful for updating screening methods with metabolite information. This is necessary whenever dealing with analytes that are extensively metabolized such as SC. In other cases identification of metabolites along with the parent compound can serve as a plausibility check and may help in estimating the time of the last drug uptake.

By viewing this presentation you will learn...

  • how to develop a convenient workflow to update HRMS-based screening methods for new psychoactive substances in a timely manner
  • how this approach is necessary when dealing with metabolites that are extensively metabolized such as synthetic cannabinoids.