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Show 2 Perspective In 1858, Hoppe reported measuring arsenic in the body hair of an exhumed corpse (1). This represents the first report of measuring a xenobiotic in hair. In 1954, Goldblum et al. reported the detection of phenobarbital in the hair of guinea pigs 30 days after administration (20). In the 1960s and 70s, hair became a popular tissue for the analysis of trace metals such as mercury, lead, copper and zinc for the determination of nutritional status and toxicity (2). Difficulties in distinguishing ingested metals from environmental contamination led to a decline in the use of hair as a matrix for monitoring trace metal exposure for nutritional purposes. In 1979, Baumgartner published the analysis of opiates in hair for the purpose of assessing drug abuse histories (21). Over the past several years many research reports have described the incorporation of drugs .. , into hair and it has been well established that a multitude of compounds can be detected in hair. Drugs such as cocaine (14, 18, 19, 22-54), opiates (55-65), barbiturates (62, 66, 67), nicotine (11, 13, 14,38,68-71), PCP _(18,72-74), amphetamines (9, 13, 14, 18, 33,41, 63, 75-84), benzodiazepines (85), antipsychotics (4-12) and antibiotics (4, 5, 8, 10-12, 86) have been detected in hair. The measurement of drugs in hair has been utilized in the field of forensic toxicology: 1) for the assessment of drug use prior to death by the examination of postmortem samples, and 2) as a noninvasive tissue for the detection of illicit drug use in the workplace. This latter use has undergone much scrutiny primarily because the mechanisms of drug disposition into hair are not as well understood as for plasma and/or urine. Dose-concentration relationships for drugs in hair are not as well established as with other tissues (87). Because of the lack of reliable dose-concentration data in hair, the Society of Forensic Toxicologists has publicly questioned the use of hair analysis as the sole analytical technique for detection of drug use in workplace drug testing programs (88). However, there are published reports that demonstrate a positive relationship between dose administered and measured hair concentrations (61, 63, 89). In addition to |
