Analysis of 4‐fluoroamphetamine in cerumen after controlled oral application

Abstract

Introduction Cerumen was found to be a promising alternative specimen for the detection of drugs. In a pilot study, drugs of abuse were identified at a high detection rate and a longer detection window for abused drugs than in urine. In the present study, cerumen from subjects was analyzed after controlled oral ingestion of the designer stimulant 4‐fluoroamphetamine (4‐FA). Methods Twelve subjects ingested placebo, 100 mg of 4‐FA and five of them also 150 mg 4‐FA in 150 ml Royal Club bitter lemon drink, separated by at least 7 days. Cerumen was sampled using cotton swabs at baseline, 1 hour after ingestion of the drug and at the end of the study day (12 hours). After extraction with ethyl acetate followed by solid phase extraction, the extracts were analyzed using liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (LC‐MS/MS). Results and Discussion In the cerumen of all 12 study subjects, 4‐FA could be detected 12 hours after ingestion, and in the cerumen of most subjects already after 1 h, ranging from 0.06 to 13.90 (median 1.52) ng per swab. Detection of 4‐FA in cerumen sampled 7 days or more after the first dose suggests a long detection window of cerumen. Conclusion Cerumen can be successfully applied to detect a single drug ingestion even shortly after ingestion provided a sufficient amount of cerumen can be sampled.