TY - JOUR
T1 - Semiquantitative Activity-Based Detection of JWH-018, a Synthetic Cannabinoid Receptor Agonist, in Oral Fluid after Vaping
AU - Cannaert, Annelies
AU - Fernandez, Maria del Mar Ramirez
AU - Theunissen, Eef L.
AU - Ramaekers, Johannes G.
AU - Wille, Sarah M. R.
AU - Stove, Christophe P.
N1 - Funding Information:
A. Cannaert acknowledges funding from the Belgian Science Policy Office (BRAIN project grant: NPSSAY) and funding as a postdoctoral research fellow from the Research Foundation-Flanders (FWO; 12Y9520N) and the Ghent University - Special Research Fund (BOF; PDO026-18). The latter is also acknowledged by C. Stove (Grants No. 01N00814 and No. 01J15517).
Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2020 American Chemical Society.
PY - 2020/4/21
Y1 - 2020/4/21
N2 - The rapid proliferation of new synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonists (SCRAs) has initiated considerable interest in the development of so-called “untargeted” screening strategies. One of these new screening technologies involves the activity-based detection of SCRAs. In this study, we evaluated whether (synthetic) cannabinoid activity can be detected in oral fluid (OF) and, if so, whether it correlates with SCRA concentrations. OF was collected at several time points in a placebo-controlled JWH-018 administration study. The outcome of the cell-based cannabinoid reporter system, which monitored the cannabinoid receptor activation, was compared to the quantitative data for JWH-018, obtained via a validated liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method. A total of 175 OF samples were collected and analyzed via both methods. The cannabinoid reporter assay correctly classified the vast majority of the samples as either negative (<0.25 ng/mL; 74/75 = 99%) or having low (0.25–1.5 ng/mL; 16/16 = 100% and 1.5–10 ng/mL; 37/41 = 90%), mid (10–100 ng/mL; 23/25 = 92%) or high (>100 ng/mL; 16/18 = 89%) JWH-018 concentrations. Passing–Bablok regression analysis yielded a good linear correlation, with no proportional difference between both methods (slope 0.97; 95% confidence interval 0.86–1.14) and only a small systematic difference. This is the first study to demonstrate the applicability of an untargeted, activity-based approach for SCRA detection in OF. Additionally, the outcome of the cannabinoid reporter assay was compared to the gold standard (LC-MS/MS), showing a good correlation between both methods, indicating that the cannabinoid reporter assay can be used for an estimation of drug concentrations.
AB - The rapid proliferation of new synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonists (SCRAs) has initiated considerable interest in the development of so-called “untargeted” screening strategies. One of these new screening technologies involves the activity-based detection of SCRAs. In this study, we evaluated whether (synthetic) cannabinoid activity can be detected in oral fluid (OF) and, if so, whether it correlates with SCRA concentrations. OF was collected at several time points in a placebo-controlled JWH-018 administration study. The outcome of the cell-based cannabinoid reporter system, which monitored the cannabinoid receptor activation, was compared to the quantitative data for JWH-018, obtained via a validated liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method. A total of 175 OF samples were collected and analyzed via both methods. The cannabinoid reporter assay correctly classified the vast majority of the samples as either negative (<0.25 ng/mL; 74/75 = 99%) or having low (0.25–1.5 ng/mL; 16/16 = 100% and 1.5–10 ng/mL; 37/41 = 90%), mid (10–100 ng/mL; 23/25 = 92%) or high (>100 ng/mL; 16/18 = 89%) JWH-018 concentrations. Passing–Bablok regression analysis yielded a good linear correlation, with no proportional difference between both methods (slope 0.97; 95% confidence interval 0.86–1.14) and only a small systematic difference. This is the first study to demonstrate the applicability of an untargeted, activity-based approach for SCRA detection in OF. Additionally, the outcome of the cannabinoid reporter assay was compared to the gold standard (LC-MS/MS), showing a good correlation between both methods, indicating that the cannabinoid reporter assay can be used for an estimation of drug concentrations.
KW - QUALITY-CONTROL
KW - VALIDATION
KW - COLLECTION
KW - DRUGS
KW - ABUSE
U2 - 10.1021/acs.analchem.0c00484
DO - 10.1021/acs.analchem.0c00484
M3 - Article
C2 - 32200637
SN - 0003-2700
VL - 92
SP - 6065
EP - 6071
JO - Analytical Chemistry
JF - Analytical Chemistry
IS - 8
ER -