Abstract

RUBIO, Nélida Cristina; MOREDA-PINEIRO, A; BERMEJO-BARRERA, P  and  BERMEJO, A.M. Coca alkaloids profile in oral fluid from people chewing coca leaves and drinking coca tea: Preliminary study. Acta toxicol. argent. [online]. 2019, vol.27, n.2, pp.72-80. ISSN 1851-3743.

Nowadays oral fluid (OF) is accepted as an alternative biological sample for detecting drugs in clinical and forensic toxicology. In countries like Argentina, where the use of coca leaves (coca leaves chewing and coca tea drinking) is legal, adequate procedures are required to allow a clear differentiation between people who use coca leaves (legal practice) and those who use cocaine (illicit practice). There is scarce literature regarding coca leaf alkaloids profile in OF from people who chew coca leaves and drink coca tea. Until now, coca leaf alkaloids profile of hygrine (HYG) and cuscohygrine (CUS) in OF were not described in the literature. The current preliminary study was performed with two healthy volunteers. In this research CUS and HYG have been found to be positive (detectable) even when cocaine (COC) and benzoylecgonine (BE) are dropped below the cut-off values proposed by international guidelines for screening (15 to 20 ng/mL), and confirmation (8 to 10 ng/mL) in OF. In addition, CUS and HYG were also found to be positive at the same time of the last detection of COC and BE after coca tea consumption. The OF would be a useful sample to confirm the legal use of coca leaf, even when more researches are therefore needed.

Keywords : Oral fluid; Coca chewers; Coca tea; Cuscohygrine; Hygrine.

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