Detection of LSD and Metabolite in Rat Hair and Human Hair
Yoshiro Nakahara, Ruri Kikura, Kazunori Takahashi, R. L. Foltz, Tammy A. Mieczkowski
Journal of Analytical Toxicology September 1, 1996 DOI: 10.1093/jat/20.5.323 via OpenAlex
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractLysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and its metabolite norLSD can be detected in hair after administration. In pigmented rats given daily doses of 0.05 to 2 mg/kg for 10 days, LSD was found in newly grown hair even at the lowest dose, while norLSD appeared only at the highest dose. Analysis of hair from 17 self-reported LSD users detected LSD in two samples. The methods used gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorometric detection, demonstrating the feasibility of hair analysis for LSD exposure.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Experimental animal study with human application Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 17 |
| Population | Self-reported LSD users (human) and pigmented rats |
| Intervention | LSD |
| Dose | 0.05, 0.1, 0.5, 1, and 2 mg/kg intraperitoneally once per day for 10 successive days |
| Duration | 10-day administration period, hair collected 4 weeks after first administration |
| Keywords | Metabolite Hair analysis Cabello Chemistry Chromatography |
| Citations | 36 |
| Key finding | LSD was detected in rat hair after the lowest administered dose (0.05 mg/kg) and in 2 of 17 human hair samples from self-reported users. |
Abstract
To examine the feasibility of detecting lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and its metabolites in hair, LSD was administered to rats with pigmented hair at 0.05, 0.1, 0.5, 1, and 2 mg/kg intraperitoneally once per day for 10 successive days. The rats were shaved just before the first administration, and newly grown hair was collected 4 weeks later. After being washed with 0.1% sodium dodecyl sulfonate and water and being dried in a desiccator, each 20-mg hair sample was extracted with 2 mliter methanol-5N HCl (20:1) under ultrasonication for 1 h and stored at room temperature for 14 h. The extract was evaporated to dryness, extracted from 0.1M NaOH with dichloromethane, and derivatized with a mixture of trimethylsilylimidazole, bis-(trimethylsilyl)acetamide, and trimethylchlorosilane (3:3:2, v/v/v) for gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric (GC-MS) analysis using LSD-d10 or lysergic acid methylpropylamide (LAMPA) as the internal standard. Selected ions were monitored at m/z 395, 293, and 279 for TMS-LSD and at m/z 381, 279, and 254 for the trimethylsilyl derivative of N-demethyl-LSD (TMS-norLSD). LSD and norLSD were also detected by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with fluorometric detection (excitation, 315 nm; emission, 420 nm). LSD was detected in the rat hair following the lowest dose (0.05 mg/kg), whereas norLSD was only detectable in the hair following the highest dose (2 mg/kg). The same GC-MS and HPLC assays were applied to the analysis of hair from 17 self-reported LSD users, and LSD was detected in two of the samples.