| Author: | Au, Kai-leung Albert |
| Title: | The influence of poppy seed ingestion on the opiates concentrations in toxicological analysis of urine samples |
| Degree: | M.Sc. |
| Year: | 2007 |
| Subject: | Hong Kong Polytechnic University -- Dissertations. Opium poppy -- Analysis. Opium poppy -- Physiological aspects. |
| Department: | Department of Health Technology and Informatics |
| Pages: | ix, 84 leaves : ill. ; 30 cm. |
| Language: | English |
| Abstract: | Poppy seed ingestion in food may interfere with the detection and interpretation of opiates, in drug screening laboratories. The increased popularity of poppy seed and other poppy products in Hong Kong and mainland China and the unawareness of people consuming these in regard to their effect on drug test results for opiates has led to the interest of investigating the time and dose influence of poppy seed ingestion on urine opiates concentration. However, a sensitive and specific method for codeine and morphine, the two main opiates in poppy seed, is needed to study this. In this study, a quantitative method, utilizing gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GCMS), with selected-ion monitoring (SIM) mode and assigned temperature programmed gas chromatography (PTGC) conditions, for the analysis of codeine and morphine in human urine of concentration was set up and validated according to the criteria of the guidelines from the International Conference on Harmonisation (ICH) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Codeine and morphine urine samples were determined after enzymatic hydrolysis using b-glucuronidase type H-2 (from Helix pomatia). After liquid-liquid extraction by Toxi-TubeTM A, codeine and morphine were derivatized with bis(trimethylsilyl)trifluoroacetamide containing 1% trimethylchlorosilane (BSTFA + TMCS) and analyzed with GCMS. The limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantitation (LOQ) were 10ng/mL and 50ng/mL, respectively, for both codeine and morphine, the linear range for both was 10 - 1500ng/mL, and the within run and between run precision and deviation from accuracy for both analytes were within the ICH and FDA limits. The method was used in a human intervention trial of parallel design. A total of 18 healthy Chinese subjects (11 men, 7 women), aged 24 - 45 years, were recruited with their informed consent. Volunteers arrived fasting and ingested either 4 or 8 grams (n=9 for each dose) of commercially available poppy seed, which had been added to plain white rice porridge (congee). Urine samples were collected at time 0 (fasting) and at 2,4, 6 and 8 hours post ingestion. The codeine and morphine contents of the poppy seed and all urine samples were measured. The poppy seeds contained 1.64 and 6.91ug/g of codeine and morphine, respectively. Only one urine sample from one volunteer showed a codeine concentration that was above the limit of quantitation (50ng/mL); this was 67.6ng/mL in the 4 h urine, and was well below the cutoff value of 300ng/mL set by Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) in 1980. Most urine samples showed no detectable morphine, but 21 samples from 8 volunteers had morphine concentrations ranging from 56.5 to 492.3ng/mL. Only one 4-hour urine, from one subject who also showed a codeine concentration in 4 h urine, was above the cutoff value of 300ng/mL set by SAMHSA. There was no relationship between opiates excretion and either poppy seed dose ingested or body weight. The urine excretion pattern of morphine showed peak excretion was at 2 to 6 hours after the ingestion of poppy seed and declined subsequently. Results showed that the method set up is suitable for opiates testing in urine. It is noted that the opiates concentration of the poppy seed ingested was low, and if food made from higher opiates content poppy seed is ingested, a true positive but misleading result in opiates screening could be obtained. Therefore poppy seed remains as a potential problem in relation to complicating the interpretation of toxicological results. The increasing popularity of poppy seed and other poppy products in Hong Kong, mainland China and elsewhere indicates that further study should be conducted on 'non-drug' poppy seed products in an attempt to find any unique and trustable marker to differentiate poppy seed or related products intake from that of drug-related opiates intake. |
| Rights: | All rights reserved |
| Access: | restricted access |
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| File | Description | Size | Format | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| b2174208x.pdf | For All Users (off-campus access for PolyU Staff & Students only) | 7.39 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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