Exley Christopher, Ahmed Usman, Polwart Anthony, Bloor Roger N
Birchall Centre for Inorganic Chemistry and Materials Science, Lennard-Jones Laboratories, Staffordshire, UK.
Addict Biol. 2007 Jun;12(2):197-9. doi: 10.1111/j.1369-1600.2007.00055.x.
The use of illicit heroin is associated with aberrant neurology of unknown aetiology and various psychiatric illnesses. Aluminium, which is a proven neurotoxin, is present in significant amounts in illicit heroin and may also be volatilized and inhaled following the vaporization of heroin off aluminium foil ('Chasing the Dragon'). The purpose of this study was to establish if the use of illicit heroin was associated with an increase in the body burden of aluminium. We have used graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry to measure the aluminium and iron contents of the urine of current and past users of illicit heroin and used these data to estimate body burdens of aluminium. Urinary excretion of aluminium is the most effective non-invasive indicator of the body burden of aluminium and was found to be significantly (P < 0.001) higher in users of illicit heroin, range 14-3382 nmol/mmol creatinine (mean +/- SD; 222 +/- 491 nmol/mmol creatinine), than in a normal non-drug abusing control population, range 23-74 nmol/mmol creatinine (mean +/- SD; 43 +/- 19 nmol/mmol creatinine). Exposure to aluminium from the use of illicit heroin may be of particular significance because the urinary excretion of iron, another major contaminant of illicit heroin, in users (mean +/- SD; 53 +/- 63 nmol/mmol creatinine) was not significantly different (P > 0.05) from the control population (mean +/- SD; 38 +/- 18 nmol/mmol creatinine). We have shown for the first time that the use of illicit heroin may be a significant contributor to the body burden of aluminium. Further research will be required to determine if adventitious aluminium has a role in heroin use-related neuropathology and neurology.
非法海洛因的使用与病因不明的异常神经学以及各种精神疾病有关。铝是一种已被证实的神经毒素，在非法海洛因中大量存在，并且在海洛因从铝箔上蒸发（“追龙”）后还可能挥发并被吸入。本研究的目的是确定非法海洛因的使用是否与铝的身体负担增加有关。我们使用石墨炉原子吸收光谱法测量了当前和过去非法海洛因使用者尿液中的铝和铁含量，并利用这些数据来估算铝的身体负担。铝的尿排泄是铝身体负担最有效的非侵入性指标，结果发现非法海洛因使用者的铝尿排泄量显著更高（P < 0.001），范围为14 - 3382纳摩尔/毫摩尔肌酐（平均值±标准差；222 ± 491纳摩尔/毫摩尔肌酐），高于正常非吸毒对照人群，范围为23 - 74纳摩尔/毫摩尔肌酐（平均值±标准差；43 ± 19纳摩尔/毫摩尔肌酐）。由于非法海洛因的另一种主要污染物铁在使用者中的尿排泄量（平均值±标准差；53 ± 63纳摩尔/毫摩尔肌酐）与对照人群（平均值±标准差；38 ± 18纳摩尔/毫摩尔肌酐）没有显著差异（P > 0.05），因此通过使用非法海洛因接触铝可能具有特别重要的意义。我们首次表明，非法海洛因的使用可能是铝身体负担的一个重要来源。需要进一步研究以确定偶然摄入的铝是否在与海洛因使用相关的神经病理学和神经学中起作用。
