Quantification of Designer Opioids by Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry.

Opioids including heroin and commonly prescribed drugs such as oxycodone and fentanyl are among the most commonly abused drugs. In recent years, the abuse of opioids has spread beyond these commonly encountered analytes and now includes novel psychoactive drugs such as AH-7921 and U47700 and a variety of fentanyl-related compounds such as acetyl fentanyl and furanyl fentanyl. The assay described is for the quantitative determination of 19 designer opioids in serum, plasma, and whole blood.

Development and validation of a liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method for the identification and quantification of JWH-018, JWH-073, JWH-019, and JWH-250 in human whole blood.

A sensitive and specific method for the quantification of JWH-018, JWH-073, and JWH-250 and the qualitative identification of JWH-019 in whole blood was developed and validated. Samples fortified with JWH-018-d₉ and JWH-073-d₉ underwent liquid-liquid extraction and were analyzed by liquid chromatography-positive ion electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry. Two transitions were monitored for all analytes except JWH-250, for which there was only one available transition.

Inhibition of morphine-potentiated HIV-1 replication in peripheral blood mononuclear cells with the nuclease-resistant 2-5A agonist analog, 2-5A(N6B).

Opioids potentiate HIV-1 infection in vitro at least partly by suppressing immunoresponsive processes in human lymphocytes and monocytes. For example, it appears that morphine inhibits the interferon (IFN)-alpha, -beta, and -gamma-mediated natural antiviral defense pathways in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). In this study, we show that restoration of a key component of the antiviral pathway reverses morphine-potentiated HIV-1 infection of human PBMC.