Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office, 200 Feliks Gwozdz Pl., Fort Worth, TX 76104, USA.
J Anal Toxicol. 2013 Mar;37(2):51-5. doi: 10.1093/jat/bks138. Epub 2013 Jan 16.
The analysis of designer drugs, including those in the synthetic cathinone and piperazine classes, may be complicated by the poor stability of these compounds in biological specimens. The stability of four of these compounds was investigated: 3,4-methylenedioxypyrovalerone, 4-methyl-N-methylcathinone (mephedrone), N-benzylpiperazine and 1-[3-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl]piperazine. Compound stability was monitored in three different biological matrices when each matrix was stored under three different conditions. These matrices and conditions included human whole blood, human serum and human urine, each stored at -20, 4 and 22°C for a period of 14 days in the dark in a sealed glass container. Analysis by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry was performed on Day 1 to establish the initial concentration for each drug in each specimen type, and then the samples were divided into three parts for storage under the various conditions. Analysis was performed in triplicate on Days 2, 4, 7 and 14 for each specimen type under each storage condition and the results were compared to those obtained on Day 1. Following analysis of the data, it became clear that mephedrone was not stable, and that care must be taken following specimen receipt to ensure minimal degradation.
包括合成卡西酮类和哌嗪类在内的设计药物的分析可能会因为这些化合物在生物样本中的稳定性差而变得复杂。本研究考察了四种此类化合物的稳定性：3,4-亚甲二氧基吡咯戊酮、4-甲基-N-甲基卡西酮（甲卡西酮）、N-苄基哌嗪和 1-[3-（三氟甲基）苯基]哌嗪。在三种不同的生物基质中，当每种基质在三种不同条件下储存时，监测了化合物的稳定性。这些基质和条件包括人类全血、人血清和人尿，每种基质在密封玻璃容器中于 -20、4 和 22°C 下避光储存 14 天。在第 1 天通过液相色谱-串联质谱法进行分析，确定每种药物在每种标本类型中的初始浓度，然后将样本分为三份，在各种条件下储存。在每种储存条件下，对每种标本类型在第 2、4、7 和 14 天进行了三次分析，并将结果与第 1 天的结果进行了比较。对数据进行分析后，发现甲卡西酮不稳定，因此在收到标本后必须小心处理，以确保最小程度的降解。
