Sectional hair analysis

Sramek et al. implemented a procedure for analyzing phencyclidine content in hair of newly admitted psychiatric patients. Hair analysis identified 11 patients who had used phencyclidine, whereas blood and urine analyses did not identify any, among the sample population (47 patients hospitalized with acute psychiatric illness). Depending on the length of hair, analysis of hair was used to confirm previous phencyclidine exposure and clarify the chronicity of use. This latter evaluation was achieved by sectional hair analysis. The authors concluded that hair analysis may be particularly useful in understanding atypical patients who do not easily fulfill the criteria of any standard mental disorder. 

The results of sectional hair analysis in two patients are shown in Table 1. Hair strands were cut into small sections, each corresponding to approximately 1 month. In both cases, the prescribed daily dose was 1200 mg carbamazepine for 12 months. Case A probably represents good compliance with carbamazepine therapy, while Case B the converse. In that case, hair analysis revealed that the patient has omitted... 

The utility of hair in the detection of chronic beta-blocker administration was examined by Kintz and Mangin in 8 hypertensive patients. Betaxolol (3 cases, 1.2-2.7 ng/mg), sotalol (2 cases, 4.4-5.3 ng/mg), atenolol (1 case, 0.9 ng/mg), and propanolol (2 cases, 1.6-2.4 ng/mg) were identified. Relative changes in observance of treatment was revealed by sectional hair analysis in a case of betaxolol treatment. 

Not all positive hair analysis results are due to passive exposure. Certainly, many positive results are due to ingestion of drugs. This section clearly illustrates that interpretation of the data must take passive exposure into consideration to determine the source of drugs in any given positive result. 

Calcium-selective electrodes have long been in use for the estimation of calcium concentrations - early applications included their use in complexometric titrations, especially of calcium in the presence of magnesium (42). Subsequently they have found use in a variety of systems, particularly for determining stability constants. Examples include determinations for ligands such as chloride, nitrate, acetate, and malonate (mal) (43), several diazacrown ethers (44,45), and methyl aldofuranosides (46). Other applications have included the estimation of Ca2+ levels in blood plasma (47) and in human hair (where the results compared satisfactorily with those from neutron activation analysis) (48). Ion-selective electrodes based on carboxylic polyether ionophores are mentioned in Section IV.B below. Though calcium-selective electrodes are convenient they are not particularly sensitive, and have slow response times. 

One of the most famous applications in forensic science is the analysis of Napoleon s hair by ICP-MS after mineralization in concentrated nitric acid whereby an arsenic concentration about 40 times higher than normal (about 40p,gg 1) was measured (see Section 9.5). Ingested arsenic is known to be stored in sulfydryl rich tissue, like hair, nails or skin. ETV-ICP-MS combined with isotope dilution has been employed to measure thallium in human scalp hair from a person poisoned by thallium compared to control subjects, whereby several longitudinal concentration gradients for the analyzed segments (length 10 mm) were obtained.28... 

If it is considered that the deceased had been poisoned over an extended period prior to death, it is important to collect hair (plucked from the roots with the ends tied with thread at the scalp end) and nail specimens. The growing hair and nail can absorb many trace elements from the blood stream and these elements are permanently bound to the keratin. Knowing that the average rate of growth of human hair is approximately 1cm per month, sectional analysis of the hair from the root to the tip will produce a calendar of exposure to the element. 

Arsenic is concentrated in the liver, spleen and kidney and is bound preferentially to sulphydryl groups in skin, hair and nails. Urine and gastric contents should also be obtained. The sequential analysis of hair sections has been shown to be of value in the examination of prolonged exposure to arsenic [8]. 

Sectional analysis of a hair sample from a heroin dealer who confessed to personal heroin abuse before she was imprisoned. The hair was taken about 10 months after she was imprisoned. 

Sectional analysis of a hair sample of a codeine addict. The proximal hair section was natural hair, the distal 3 sections were bleached. 

In eight patients to whom HL had been administered at fixed doses (2-10 mg/d) for more than 1 month, and in whom either therapy had just been discontinued or doses halved, a cross-sectional analysis of hair collected at the time of dose changing and at fixed times (1-3 months) thereafter revealed variations of hair concentrations that were time related (assuming a hair growth rate of 1.0-1.5 cm/month) to the changes in drug intake. 

In 59 patients treated with HL at fixed daily doses (3-10 mg/d) over at least 4 months prior to sampling, HPLC determinations of both HL and reduced metabolite (RHL) content in hair showed significant correlations with the daily dose of HL (r = 0.682, p < 10 3, n = 59 for HL, and r = 0.813, p < 10, n = 59 for RHL). A cross-sectional analysis, carried out in five patients whose HL dose regimen had been decreased or discontinued a few months before sampling, showed in all cases an abrupt drop of both HL and RHL hair levels at the time at which dosage changed. 

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