Developing and Validating a Fast and Accurate Method to Quantify 18 Antidepressants in Oral Fluid Samples Using SPE and LC-MS-MS.

Antidepressant drugs are one of the most widely used medicines for treating major depressive disorders for long time periods. Oral fluid (OF) testing offers an easy and non-invasive sample collection. Detection of antidepressants in OF is important in clinical and forensic settings, such as therapeutic drug monitoring and roadside testing for driving under influence.

Retrospective Chart Review of Synthetic Cannabinoid Intoxication with Toxicologic Analysis.

Introduction: Use of synthetic cannabinoids (SC) has recently emerged as a new drug epidemic. Our emergency departments (EDs) received a surge of SC users presenting with lethargy and bradycardia, contrasting prior reports of SC-induced tachycardia and agitation. Our goal was to describe these novel presentations and characterize the compounds.

Chiral Analysis of Methamphetamine in Oral Fluid Samples: A Method to Distinguish Licit from Illicit Drug Use.

Methamphetamine (MAMP) is a popular illicit drug abused for its central nervous system stimulating effects. MAMP is also used therapeutically in the treatment of overeating disorders, narcolepsy, attention deficit disorder, in over-the-counter (OTC) products to ease nasal congestion. MAMP exists in two enantiomeric forms, dextrorotary (d-MAMP) or levorotary (l-MAMP).

A Novel Chronic Opioid Monitoring Tool to Assess Prescription Drug Steady State Levels in Oral Fluid.

Objective: Interpretation limitations of urine drug testing and the invasiveness of blood toxicology have motivated the desire for the development of simpler methods to assess biologically active drug levels on an individualized patient basis. Oral fluid is a matrix well-suited for the challenge because collections are based on simple noninvasive procedures and drug concentrations better correlate to blood drug levels as oral fluid is a filtrate of the blood. Well-established pharmacokinetic models were utilized to generate oral fluid steady state concentration ranges to assess the interpretive value of the alternative matrix to monitor steady state plasma oxycodone levels.

A Fast and Comprehensive Analysis of 32 Synthetic Cannabinoids Using Agilent Triple Quadrupole LC-MS-MS.

Synthetic cannabinoids are a group of psychoactive compounds that mimic the effects of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol, the primary psychoactive constituent of marijuana (Cannabis sativa L). The Drug Enforcement Administration has classified many of the most common cannabinoids as Schedule 1 controlled substances. As a result, several novel synthetic cannabinoid series have emerged in the illicit drug market, including PINACA, FUBINACA, PB-22, AKB-48 and multiple derivatives of these compounds.

Assessment of the use of oral fluid as a matrix for drug monitoring in patients undergoing treatment for opioid addiction.

Drug testing is an important clinical tool that is available to physicians who are assessing the effectiveness of drug treatment as well as patient compliance to the administered program. While urine has traditionally been the matrix of choice for drug monitoring, oral fluid, a filtrate of the blood, has shown great promise as an alternative matrix for such applications. Oral fluid collection can be accomplished without the need for highly trained medical staff through the use of a simple, noninvasive oral fluid collection device, which obtains an adequate sample in only a few minutes.

Validation of an EMIT® screening method to detect 6-acetylmorphine in oral fluid.

An automated assay was modified and validated to qualitatively screen for 6-acetylmorphine (6-AM) in oral fluid using the Siemens EMIT II(®) Plus 6-AM urine assay. The validation utilized an oral fluid calibrator at the currently proposed Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration cutoff concentration of 4 ng/mL, as well as quality control material prepared and validated through liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. All calibrator, quality control and unknown specimens were analyzed based on the dilution and buffering system of the Quantisal(®) oral fluid collection device.

Toxicity and bioaccumulation of the booster biocide copper pyrithione, copper 2-pyridinethiol-1-oxide, in gill tissues of Salvelinus fontinalis (brook trout).

This investigation studied the acute effects of copper pyrithione (CuPT) exposure on juvenile brook trout, Salvelinus fontinalis. Morphologic changes, copper bioaccumulation, and markers of oxidative stress in gill tissue were studied. Juvenile brook trout were treated with one of six experimental doses of CuPT (2-64 microg/L) for 2 hours.