Page 147 - Advances in Forensic Applications of Mass Spectrometry - Jehuda Yinon

1522_C03.fm Page 130 Thursday, November 13, 2003 9:53 AM

In the 1960s and 1970s, hair analysis was used to evaluate exposure to
toxic heavy metals, such as arsenic, lead, or mercury; this was due to atomic
absorption that allowed detection in the nanogram range. At that time,
examination of hair for organic substances, especially drugs, was not possible
because analytical methods were not sensitive enough.
Examination by means of drugs marked with radioactive isotopes, how-
ever, established that these substances can move from blood to hair and are
deposited there. Ten years after these first investigations, it became possible
both in the U.S. and West Germany to denominate various organic drugs by
means of the radioimmunologic assay (RIA) technique.
In 1979, Baumgartner and colleagues published the first report on the
1
detection of morphine in the hair of heroin abusers using RIA. They found
that differences in the concentration of morphine along the hair shaft cor-
related with the time of drug use.
Today, gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC/MS)
is the method of choice for hair analysis, and this technology is routinely
used to document repetitive drug exposure in forensic sciences, traffic med-
icine, occupational medicine, clinical toxicology, and more recently in sports.
The major practical advantage of hair testing compared to urine or blood
testing for drugs is that it has a larger surveillance window (weeks to months,
depending on the length of the hair shaft, against 2 to 4 d for most xenobi-
otics). For practical purposes, the two tests complement each other. Urinal-
ysis and blood analysis provide short-term information of an individual’s
drug use, whereas long-term histories are accessible through hair analysis.
While analysis of urine and blood specimens cannot distinguish between
chronic use or single exposure, hair analysis can offer this distinction. Table
3.1 summarizes major characteristics of each specimen in regard to its place
in doping control.

Table 3.1 Comparison between Urine and Hair for Testing Doping Agents
in Sports
Parameters Urine Hair
Drugs All, except some peptidic hormones All, except hormones
Major compound Metabolites Parent drug
Detection period 2–5 d, except anabolic steroids Weeks, months
Type of measure Incremental Cumulative
Screening Yes No
Invasiveness High Low
Storage –20˚C Ambient temperature
Risk of false negative High Low
Risk of false positive Low Undetermined
Risk of adulteration High Low
Control material Yes Needed

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