Department of Medicine, Section of Clinical Pharmacology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
J Pharm Biomed Anal. 2011 Dec 15;56(5):1024-8. doi: 10.1016/j.jpba.2011.08.004. Epub 2011 Aug 9.
Methadone has previously been found present in exhaled breath of methadone treated patients. This study aimed at studying if methadone is present in the aerosol fraction of exhaled breath and used different filter sampling techniques for that. Patients receiving methadone maintenance treatment were recruited for the study. Methadone was extracted from filters collecting methadone from exhaled breath using 2-propanol, methanol and ethyl acetate and measured using liquid-chromatography-tandem mass-spectrometry. The limit of quantification was 5 pg/sample and the intra-day imprecision and accuracy within 15%. The recovery of extracting methadone from filters was >90%. Two types of micro-particle filters were used in this study and were compared with the C18 silica filter (Empore) used before. The Glass fiber filter collected methadone from exhaled breath of methadone patients. The amount collected significantly exceeded the amount using the C18 Empore filter (3.6-14-fold), but the variability of amount trapped was large. The second filter type was a polymer filter. Also this filter was able to trap methadone from exhaled breath of methadone patients. The amount and variability was similar to the C18 Empore filter but smaller than the Glass fiber filter. The mean rate of methadone excretion measured with the best polymer filter was 92 pg/min with a range between 20 and 287 (n=5). The polymer filter has the practical advantage of having a low flow resistance making it possible to sample without pumping assistance. The polymer filter was found to collect >90% of the exhaled methadone. The conclusion of this study was that methadone in exhaled breath is carried in the aerosol fraction known to be formed in the lung as a result of normal breathing.
美沙酮先前已被发现存在于接受美沙酮治疗的患者呼出的呼出气中。本研究旨在研究美沙酮是否存在于呼出呼出气的气溶胶部分，并为此使用了不同的滤器采样技术。 接受美沙酮维持治疗的患者被招募参加这项研究。使用 2-丙醇、甲醇和乙酸乙酯从收集呼出呼出气中美沙酮的滤器中提取美沙酮，并使用液相色谱-串联质谱法进行测量。定量下限为 5pg/样本，日内精密度和准确度在 15%以内。从滤器中提取美沙酮的回收率>90%。本研究使用了两种类型的微粒子滤器，并与之前使用的 C18 硅胶滤器（Empore）进行了比较。玻璃纤维滤器从美沙酮患者的呼出气中收集美沙酮。收集到的量明显超过使用 C18 Empore 滤器的量（3.6-14 倍），但捕集量的变异性很大。第二种滤器类型是聚合物滤器。这种滤器也能够从美沙酮患者的呼出气中捕获美沙酮。量和变异性与 C18 Empore 滤器相似，但小于玻璃纤维滤器。使用最佳聚合物滤器测量的美沙酮排泄率平均值为 92pg/min，范围在 20 到 287 之间（n=5）。聚合物滤器具有低流量阻力的实际优势，使其能够在没有泵辅助的情况下进行采样。发现聚合物滤器收集了>90%的呼出美沙酮。本研究的结论是，呼出气中的美沙酮是在气溶胶部分中携带的，已知该部分是由于正常呼吸在肺部形成的。
