Monitoring of Levamisole Concentration in Serum of Traffic Participants after Cocaine Consumption |
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| Authors: | Marek Dziadosz PhD Michael Klintschar Prof MD Jörg Teske PhD |
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| Affiliation: | Institute of Legal Medicine, Hannover Medical School (MHH), Hannover, Germany |
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| Abstract: | This study highlights the problem of levamisole‐adulterated cocaine in context of active traffic participation. For the purposes of levamisole concentration monitoring in human serum, an analytical method based on LC‐MS/MS and solid‐phase extraction was applied. A Luna 5 μm C18 (2) 100 A, 150 mm × 2 mm column and a mobile phase consisting of A (H2O/methanol = 95/5, v/v) and B (H2O/methanol = 3/97, v/v), both with 10 mM ammonium acetate and with 0.1% acetic acid (pH = 3.2), were used. The validation experiments demonstrated that the method applied was appropriate for levamisole quantification in human serum. For 23% of levamisole‐positive samples, the concentrations exceeded 20 ng/mL. Therefore, the interaction of this drug with cocaine has to be considered as important for active traffic participation. As a consequence, monitoring of levamisole concentration in human serum is recommended, as long as it is used as cocaine adulterant. |
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| Keywords: | forensic science forensic toxicology levamisole cocaine adulterant liquid chromatography– tandem mass spectrometry |
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