The opioid most commonly sold in the illicit market is heroin. This substance, classified as an analgesic narcotic drug, has an extremely short half-life, and it is rapidly metabolized to 6-monoacetyl-morphine and further to morphine. Morphine is principally metabolized by conjugation to morphine-3 and morphine-6 glucuronides. Morphine itself is a potent analgesic that is frequently used in the pharmacological intervention of cancer pain. The toxicological and clinical evaluation of heroin and morphine have stimulated pharmacokinetic studies in human and animal models. Although a number of methods exist to determine opiates and their metabolites, liquid chromatography (LC) appears to be the technique that can separate without any pretreatment the lipophilic and the hydrophilic analytes of the complete metabolic profile of heroin and/or morphine. Moreover, mass spectrometry (MS) used as a detector for liquid chromatography is unique, because it offers universality and selectivity. Furthermore, efforts have been made to develop LC/MS interfaces that could overcome the previous problem of poor sensitivity. For this reason, in recent years LC combined with MS has been applied to the analysis of opiates--parent drugs and metabolites--in biological fluids. This article reviews the existing literature on the determination, using liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry, of opiate metabolites found in different biological matrices after the administration of the parent compounds.

中文翻译：

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液相色谱-质谱法在测定生物流体中海洛因和相关阿片样物质中的作用。

在非法市场上最常出售的阿片类药物是海洛因。该物质被分类为镇痛麻醉药，半衰期极短，可迅速代谢为6-单乙酰基吗啡，进一步代谢为吗啡。吗啡主要通过与吗啡3和吗啡6葡萄糖醛酸苷结合而代谢。吗啡本身是一种有效的止痛药，通常用于癌症疼痛的药理干预中。海洛因和吗啡的毒理学和临床评价促进了人和动物模型的药代动力学研究。尽管存在许多确定鸦片剂及其代谢产物的方法，但液相色谱法（LC）似乎是无需任何预处理即可分离海洛因和/或吗啡完整代谢谱的亲脂性和亲水性分析物的技术。此外，用作液相色谱检测器的质谱（MS）具有独特性，因为它具有通用性和选择性。此外，已经做出努力来开发LC / MS接口，其可以克服先前的灵敏度差的问题。因此，近年来LC与MS相结合已被用于分析生物体液中的鸦片剂-母体药物和代谢产物。本文回顾了有关在使用母体化合物后使用液相色谱与质谱法测定在不同生物基质中发现的鸦片代谢物的现有文献。已经做出努力来开发LC / MS接口，以克服以前灵敏度低的问题。因此，近年来LC与MS相结合已被用于分析生物体液中的鸦片剂-母体药物和代谢产物。本文回顾了有关在使用母体化合物后使用液相色谱与质谱法测定在不同生物基质中发现的鸦片代谢物的现有文献。已经做出努力来开发LC / MS接口，以克服以前灵敏度低的问题。因此，近年来LC与MS相结合已被用于分析生物体液中的鸦片剂-母体药物和代谢产物。本文回顾了有关在使用母体化合物后使用液相色谱与质谱法测定在不同生物基质中发现的鸦片代谢物的现有文献。