Validation of a quantitative liquid chromatography/hybrid quadrupole-linear ion trap MS/MS method for carfentanil and caffeine in a live human epidermis model.

Rationale: Carfentanil, an opioid 10K times more potent than morphine, has no licit clinical use. A powerful CNS depressant, it has been identified increasingly as the cause of overdose death in the United States. Because it is highly lipophilic, the law enforcement and medical communities have been concerned that responding personnel could be percutaneously exposed and that exposure could be enhanced with the use of alcohol-containing hand sanitizers.

In vitro dermal absorption of carfentanil.

There is growing concern regarding potential occupational exposures to the ultra-potent synthetic opioid carfentanil. However, little data are available on the toxicity of carfentanil in humans, particularly for dermal exposures. To begin to address this, permeation of carfentanil formulated in three vehicles, water, ethanol, and hand sanitizer was measured under infinite-dose conditions in an in vitro static diffusion cell system using the EpiDerm™ (EPI-606-X) RhE model.