Buprenorphine detection in hair samples by immunometric screening test: Preliminary experience

The recent introduction of buprenorphine use by the Drug Addiction Services has induced toxicology laboratories to develop new qualitative or semiquantitative screening assay for its determination in hair samples. The aim of this preliminary study was to verify the correlation between the buprenorphine intake and the immunometric screening test results (VMA-T Comedical and buprenorphine CEDIA/Thermo-Fisher/Microgenics reagents) and therefore their comparison with the liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (LC/MS) results. Hair samples were obtained from 32 subjects without buprenorphine-therapy reported and 17 in treatment. In glass test tube with hermetic cap were weighed 33mg of 49 finely cut hair samples, washed with 1mL of SLV-VMA-T washing solution, which is then completely sucked and eliminated. The samples were extracted with 400μL of VMA-T reagent for an hour at 100°C. The extracts were analysed by immunometric screening test on ILab 650 chemistry analyser, using buprenorphine CEDIA reagent assay. From the 32 non-takers of drug, 30 semiquantitative results were less than 10pg/mg and 2 were over 10pg/mg; from the 17 subjects with therapy, all were over 10pg/mg (range 13–50pg/mg); no samples were false-negative. Results suggest that exist a good relationship between the administration of buprenorphine and its concentration in hair, detectable through this method and reagents line.