Volume 20 (2014): Issue 2 (December 2014)

When detection times for psychoactive drugs in oral fluid are reported, they are most often based on therapeutic doses administered in clinical studies. Repeated ingestions of high doses, as seen after drug abuse, are however likely to cause positive samples for extended time periods. Findings of drugs of abuse in oral fluid might lead to negative sanctions, and the knowledge of detection times of these drugs are important to ensure correct interpretation. The aim of this study was to investigate the detection times of opioids in oral fluid. 25 patients with a history of heavy drug abuse admitted to a detoxification ward were included. Oral fluid and urine were collected daily and, if the patient gave consent, a blood sample was drawn during the first five days after admission. Morphine, codeine and/or 6-monoacetyl morphine (6-MAM) were found in oral fluid and/or urine from 20 patients. The maximum detection times in oral fluid for codeine, morphine and 6-MAM were 1, 3 and 8 days, respectively. Positive oral fluid samples were interspersed with negative samples, mainly for concentrations around cut off. Elimination curves for methadone in oral fluid were found for two subjects, and the detection times were 5 and 8 days. Oral fluid is likely to become a good method for detection of drug abuse in the future

We present an overview of protein and peptide compounds confiscated in Denmark from late 2007 till late 2013 together with a description of a newly developed HRAM-LC-MS method used for identification. As examples of identification, we present data for the peptides AOD-9604, [D-Ala², Gln⁸, Ala¹⁵, Leu²⁷]sermorelin and the protein follistatin. It was found that a method with minimum sample preparation could be implemented for all of the confiscated peptides and the protein somatropin. However, for the protein follistatin it was necessary to include trypsin digestion in the sample preparation, which considerably increases the overall analysis time.

Introduction: As far as we know, there are no known studies on the durability of frozen tissue stained with Oil Red O. The purpose of this study was to examine if the lipid drops in Oil Red O stained tissue keep the original position and color over time (3 months). Further we examined if storage position of the stained tissue makes a difference. Method: We used ten frozen kidney sections stained with Oil Red O. Half of the samples were stored vertically and the other half horizontally, and photos of the same areas were taken within the first 24 hours after staining, and then after 48 hours, 72 hours, 7 days, 14 days, 1 month, 2 months and 3 months respectively. Results and conclusion: No changes in position of the lipids were observed. The color of the staining faded somewhat over time, but it was still possible to distinguish the positive sites from the negative.