Hair analysis is an important and reliable resource for the assessment of alcohol or drug abstinence in both clinical and forensic toxicology. Recently, it has been demonstrated that hair oxidative cosmetic treatments lead to the reduction in incorporated xenobiotics in hair, such as ethyl glucuronide (EtG), a marker of alcohol abuse, and the formation of 1-H-pyrrole-2,3,5-tricarboxylic acid (PTCA), a degradation product of melanin. The aim of the present study was to investigate PTCA trends in a large number of samples in order to evaluate the reliability of this biomarker in recognizing previous cosmetic treatment in forensic analyses. Therefore, a single-step extraction followed by an high-performance liquid chromatography--tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC--MS-MS) method was established and validated for the simultaneous determination of EtG and PTCA. This method was applied to 1,219 scalp hair samples from two groups, namely self-reported untreated and in vivo treated hair, exhibiting a concentration range of 6.7 to 440.0 pg/mg for EtG (mean 26.8 pg/mg, median 14.6 pg/mg) and 0.009 to 49.8 ng/mg for PTCA (mean 0.66 ng/mg, median 0.02 ng/mg). The PTCA content was significantly different among the two experimental groups, with the in vivo treated group showing significantly higher levels of PTCA than the untreated group. Finally, an in vitro bleaching was performed and the results confirmed that a strong hair oxidative treatment may negatively affect EtG test results (false negative), whereas the mean PTCA content increased showing statistically significant differences between untreated and in vitro oxidative treated samples. The present study suggests that the determination of PTCA in routine hair analysis procedure could be useful in order to discover previous cosmetic treatment including oxidation.

PTCA (1-H-Pyrrole-2,3,5-Tricarboxylic Acid) as a Marker for Oxidative Hair Treatment: Distribution, Gender Aspects, Correlation with EtG and Self-Reports / S. Casati, A. Ravelli, I. Angeli, R.F. Bergamaschi, G. Binelli, M. Minoli, M. Orioli. - In: JOURNAL OF ANALYTICAL TOXICOLOGY. - ISSN 1945-2403. - 45:5(2021 Jun), pp. 513-520. [10.1093/jat/bkaa153]

PTCA (1-H-Pyrrole-2,3,5-Tricarboxylic Acid) as a Marker for Oxidative Hair Treatment: Distribution, Gender Aspects, Correlation with EtG and Self-Reports

S. Casati
Primo
;
A. Ravelli
Secondo
;
I. Angeli;R.F. Bergamaschi;M. Minoli
Penultimo
;
M. Orioli
Ultimo
2021

Abstract

Hair analysis is an important and reliable resource for the assessment of alcohol or drug abstinence in both clinical and forensic toxicology. Recently, it has been demonstrated that hair oxidative cosmetic treatments lead to the reduction in incorporated xenobiotics in hair, such as ethyl glucuronide (EtG), a marker of alcohol abuse, and the formation of 1-H-pyrrole-2,3,5-tricarboxylic acid (PTCA), a degradation product of melanin. The aim of the present study was to investigate PTCA trends in a large number of samples in order to evaluate the reliability of this biomarker in recognizing previous cosmetic treatment in forensic analyses. Therefore, a single-step extraction followed by an high-performance liquid chromatography--tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC--MS-MS) method was established and validated for the simultaneous determination of EtG and PTCA. This method was applied to 1,219 scalp hair samples from two groups, namely self-reported untreated and in vivo treated hair, exhibiting a concentration range of 6.7 to 440.0 pg/mg for EtG (mean 26.8 pg/mg, median 14.6 pg/mg) and 0.009 to 49.8 ng/mg for PTCA (mean 0.66 ng/mg, median 0.02 ng/mg). The PTCA content was significantly different among the two experimental groups, with the in vivo treated group showing significantly higher levels of PTCA than the untreated group. Finally, an in vitro bleaching was performed and the results confirmed that a strong hair oxidative treatment may negatively affect EtG test results (false negative), whereas the mean PTCA content increased showing statistically significant differences between untreated and in vitro oxidative treated samples. The present study suggests that the determination of PTCA in routine hair analysis procedure could be useful in order to discover previous cosmetic treatment including oxidation.
Alcohol Drinking; Biomarkers; Glucuronates; Humans; Oxidative Stress; Pyrroles; Reproducibility of Results; Self Report; Substance Abuse Detection; Alcoholism; Tricarboxylic Acids
Settore CHIM/08 - Chimica Farmaceutica
Settore BIO/14 - Farmacologia
giu-2021
7-ott-2020
Article (author)
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/2434/858674
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