Nair Vinod S, Heybroek Mari, Boyle Emily, Rogers Mason, Campbell Thane, Eichner Daniel, Hill Kevin
Sports Medicine Research and Testing Laboratory, South Jordan, Utah, USA.
University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.
Drug Test Anal. 2024 Oct;16(10):1122-1126. doi: 10.1002/dta.3631. Epub 2024 Jan 4.
Δ-Tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ-THC) is usually the primary psychoactive agent in cannabis preparations. Recently, products containing another isomer, Δ-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ-THC), have become available for sale. Δ-THC exists naturally in the cannabis plant at very low concentrations; hence, the Δ-THC present in most of the above-mentioned products is likely to be manufactured synthetically. A surge in popularity of these products, coupled with little oversight to ensure purity and potency, has led to reports of adverse events. Workplace drug testing programs as well as many sporting organizations prohibit the use of cannabinoids. Carboxy-Δ-THC (Δ-THC-COOH) is the targeted urinary metabolite for detection of cannabis use. The proliferation of products containing Δ-THC, which metabolizes to Δ-THC-COOH, presents analytical complexity with respect to separation and quantification of the individual isomers as well as legal complexity with respect to lack of clarity around the legal status of Δ-THC. This study aims to estimate the prevalence of Δ-THC use in the athlete community by monitoring for Δ-THC-COOH in samples collected for antidoping. A high-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method was utilized to resolve Δ and Δ-THC-COOH. One thousand samples with a presumptive Δ-THC-COOH finding in routine screening were analyzed by the above LC-MS/MS method. Approximately 12% of samples contained Δ-THC-COOH at relative abundances between 5% and 100% of total carboxy-THC content.
Δ-四氢大麻酚（Δ-THC）通常是大麻制剂中的主要精神活性成分。最近，含有另一种异构体Δ-四氢大麻酚（Δ-THC）的产品已上市销售。Δ-THC在大麻植物中天然存在的浓度非常低；因此，上述大多数产品中存在的Δ-THC可能是合成制造的。这些产品的 popularity 激增，再加上几乎没有监督来确保纯度和效力，导致了不良事件的报告。工作场所药物检测计划以及许多体育组织都禁止使用大麻素。羧基-Δ-THC（Δ-THC-COOH）是检测大麻使用情况的目标尿液代谢物。含有Δ-THC且会代谢为Δ-THC-COOH的产品的 proliferation，在单个异构体的分离和定量方面带来了分析复杂性，同时在Δ-THC法律地位不明确方面带来了法律复杂性。本研究旨在通过监测为反兴奋剂采集的样本中的Δ-THC-COOH来估计运动员群体中Δ-THC的使用 prevalence。采用高效液相色谱串联质谱（LC-MS/MS）方法来分离Δ和Δ-THC-COOH。用上述LC-MS/MS方法分析了在常规筛查中 presumptive Δ-THC-COOH结果呈阳性的1000个样本。大约12%的样本含有Δ-THC-COOH，其相对丰度在总羧基-THC含量的5%至100%之间。
