Introduction
Drug
The
definition of a drug is “any substance that in any part of the body changes
normal metabolism”. It also refers to any chemical substance taken to cure or
prevent disease, improve mental or physical performance, or deal with reality
or escape it. Drug abuse is nowadays a major global societal and economic
problem. Analysis of abused drugs and their metabolites in human blood, urine,
saliva, sweat, and hair, etc., has been a hot topic of research in recent years
as an important step in monitoring drug abuse [1].
Illicit drug
There
are many illegal drugs that are highly addictive and pose serious risks. Using
these drugs usually starts as an experiment or as a result of curiosity. Other
times, it may start with the medication prescribed for prescription pain to
treat an illness or injury. A user may become hooked overtime on the drug’s
mental or physical effects. This leads the user to need more of the substance
to have the same effects. A person with an illegal drug addiction will often
endanger their health and safety without help. In many parts of the world, the
use of legally banned psychotropic substances for non - medical purposes
appears to be increasing [2-4], but the rate of increase is difficult to
quantify. The prevalence of this behavior and its adverse health effects on
individual societies is difficult to estimate because this behavior is unlawful
and therefore often hidden. It is difficult even to estimate mortality
associated with illicit drug use, the most tangible adverse health effect, for
reasons discussed below [5]. Nevertheless, efforts must be made to estimate the
contribution that illicit drug use makes to the global burden of disease
because it is a pattern of behavior that has a significant adverse effect on
the health and well - being of those involved, resulting in significant loss of
life and disability [6].
Literature survey of
amphetamine
Amphetamine,
a powerful stimulant of the central nervous system (CNS), is used for syndrome
treatment [7,8]. Its derivatives were abused as recreational drugs and used as
unlawful euphoria. There is a high risk of dependence, so many countries have
issued strict regulations to control their consumption and reduce the abuse of
amphetamines. For example, amphetamines in the United Kingdom categorized as
Class B while in Canadian law they are in Class I. They are also classified as
illegal drugs in the European Union [9,10]. For many years, amphetamine and its
derivatives have been the classic, illegal drugs of abuse, but have recently
been replaced by a new legal alternative substance class, the cathinone -
derivatives, to undermine drug regulatory law [11]. Cathinone is a natural beta
- keto amphetamine analogue which forms the main component of the “Khat” plant
leaves of Catha edulis [11]. Cathinone - derivatives abuse has grown
significantly throughout the world due to their amphetamine - like stimulant
effects [12,13].
Occurrence and toxicity
of amphetamine
Methamphetamine
(METH) and its 3,4 methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) derivative are widely
used psychostimulant medicines. Euphoria, alertness, decreased appetite,
increased locomotive activity, and hyperthermia are the acute effects of these
drugs. Psychosis, aggressiveness, and neurotoxicity may result from long - term
abuse of METH and MDMA. Especially due to its strong euphoric properties, METH
has a very high potential for abuse. According to recent reports from the
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) [14], METH and MDMA abuse is an
extremely serious and growing problem in the U.S. and around the world. The use
of METH and MDMA has been documented among significantly diverse populations.
For example, the use of amphetamines is increasing among young adults who
attend “raves” or private clubs. METH use is also high among people with HIV infection
[14]. Although the acute effects of these drugs are relatively well known, the
long - term effects and potential neurotoxicity associated with these drugs are
unclear.
Adulterants and
diluents in amphetamine
Illicit
drugs are seldom sold or used in their pure state throughout the world [15].
They are often mixed with other substances to provide a more manageable dosing
unit [16]. Heroin, amphetamine, and cocaine are often extensively mixed or
“cut” with a variety of substances, adulterants, and/or diluents to make it
appear that a larger quantity of drug is actually present, thereby increasing
the dealer’s profit [17,18]. It is important to identify potential hazardous
substances contaminating illicit drugs because these substances may be more toxic
than the drug itself. Examples of dangerous mixtures sold on the European drug
market are cocaine adulterated with atropine [19] or phenytoin [20]. Detailed
knowledge and understanding of street drug cutting agents can provide
distribution route information [21,22]. Comparative analysis can also support
the composition of cutting agents linking two or more samples together [23].
Therefore, it is important to know about possible changes in the prevalence of
these substances. Previous studies of adulterants and diluents seized in
Denmark have shown ongoing shifting patterns in the use and distribution of
various cutting substances [17,18].
Detection and
determination of amphetamine
A
body of substances known as “designer drugs” has been chemically synthesized in
recent years with similar effects to those of the oldest drugs. They include
amphetamines that the pharmaceutical industry initially developed and abandoned
due to their lack of therapeutic interest but are now being used as abuse
drugs. The 1990s saw a shift from the previous decade in the pattern of drug
consumption. Heroin and cocaine were the prevailing drugs used about ten or
fifteen years ago, and although they continue to be present in many drug
addiction cases, amphetamines have largely replaced them in recent years. Of
special interest among the latter are MDA and MDMA, the most widely used. Other
amphetamines of habitual use at present include MA, AP, and MDEA. A number of
experiments have shown that immunological techniques currently available are
scarcely specific and therefore likely to yield many false positive and
negative factors [23,24] this requires the use of more sensitive methods such
as gas chromatography (GC) for confirmation [25-27].This technique is sensitive
and selective enough for this type of determination.
Conventional GC-MS
method for analysis of amphetamine
Gas
chromatography combined with mass spectrometry (GC – MS) using electron impact
(EI) ionization mode is the most widely used abuse analysis technique [28].
Different enantioselective methods for the enantio separation of amphetamine
and its derivatives have been developed using several analytical techniques,
such as gas chromatography (GC) [29,30], capillary electrophoresis (CE)
[30,31], high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) [30,11] and more
recently capillary electrochromatography Despite the availability of different
types of chiral stationary phases, sometimes with broad chiral discrimination
ability, it is still not an easy task to develop chiral separation) [32,33].
Small changes in the solvent structure or / and chromatographic /
electrophoretic environment often have major effects on the ability of many
CSPs to resolve chirals. Furthermore, it is difficult to predict which CSP
might be suitable for the manan - separation of a given chiral molecule and
most of the time one relies on a trial - and - error approach that is a time -
consuming, labor - consuming, and money - consuming process [34]. For many
separation techniques, different strate - gies have been defined, such as
normal phase liquid chromatography [35], reversed phase liquid chromatography
[36], polar organic solvent chromatography [37], supercritical fluid
chromatography [38] and capillary electrochromatography [39].
For more Lupine Publishers Open Access Journals Please visit our website: https://twitter.com/lupine_online
For more Food And Nutrition Please Click
Here: https://lupinepublishers.com/food-and-nutri-journal/
To Know more Open Access Publishers Click on Lupine Publishers
Follow on Linkedin : https://www.linkedin.com/company/lupinepublishers
Follow on Twitter : https://twitter.com/lupine_online
No comments:
Post a Comment