Nail analysis can be performed as a substitute or complement to hair analysis for the retrospective determination of psychotropic drugs consumption in forensic contexts. The application of nail analysis in a "chemsex" context is reported herein. An ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method was developed to quantify the most common drugs of abuse, synthetic cannabinoids, synthetic cathinones and GHB in fingernails and toenails of individuals presumptively using these drugs in music and sex settings. Results were compared to the concentrations measured in hair. Nail and hair keratin matrices were digested with VMA-TM3® buffer reagent and underwent a solid phase extraction before chromatographic separation with reversed phase columns and a linear gradient elution with 5 mM ammonium formate and acetonitrile, for detecting classic drugs of abuse, or 0.1% formic acid and methanol, for detecting synthetic cathinones, synthetic cannabinoids, and GHB. Analytes were detected with a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer operated in multiple reaction monitoring mode after positive electrospray ionization. Nails of individuals practicing "chemsex" contained at least three different psychoactive drugs, and up to eight drugs simultaneously. Identified drugs included cocaine, benzoylecgonine, cocaethylene, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, amphetamine, methamphetamine, 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine, ketamine, norketamine, mephedrone, methylone, 4-methyletcathinone, methcathinone, γ-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) and γ-butyrolactone. Most used drugs were MDMA and GHB followed by cocaine and ketamine. Drugs concentrations ranged from 0.1 to 690 ng/mg in fingernails. In the two individuals who also provided toenails, concentrations were always higher in fingernails than in toenails, while in two other individuals who donated also hair, concentrations in this latter matrix were either higher or lower than those measured in fingernails. This study demonstrated that nails may well represent an appropriate non-conventional biological matrix to provide additional information in forensic toxicology.

中文翻译：

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Chemsex中使用的药物的指甲分析：一项初步研究。

可以进行指甲分析，以替代或补充头发分析，以追溯性确定法医环境中的精神药物消费量。本文报道了指甲分析在“ chemsex”环境中的应用。开发了一种超高效液相色谱-串联质谱法，用于定量推定在音乐和性环境中假定使用这些药物的个人的指甲和脚趾甲中最常见的滥用药物，合成大麻素，合成卡西酮和GHB。将结果与头发中测得的浓度进行比较。用VMA-TM3®缓冲液消化指甲和头发的角蛋白基质，并进行固相萃取，然后用反相柱色谱分离，并用5 mM甲酸铵和乙腈进行线性梯度洗脱，用于检测经典的滥用药物或0.1％的甲酸和甲醇，用于检测合成的卡西酮，合成的大麻素和GHB。在正电喷雾电离后，使用以多反应监测模式运行的三重四极杆质谱仪检测分析物。从事“ chemsex”治疗的人的指甲至少包含三种不同的精神活性药物，同时最多包含八种药物。鉴定出的药物包括可卡因，苯甲酰芽子碱，可卡乙烯，δ-9-四氢大麻酚，苯丙胺，甲基苯丙胺，3,4-亚甲基二氧甲基苯丙胺，3,4-亚甲基二氧苯丙胺，氯胺酮，去甲氯胺酮，甲氧麻黄酮，甲酮，4-羟甲基etc啶酮，甲基卡丁酮，γ GHB）和γ-丁内酯。最常用的药物是MDMA和GHB，其次是可卡因和氯胺酮。指甲中的药物浓度范围为0.1至690 ng / mg。在同样提供脚趾甲的两个人中，指甲中的浓度总是比脚趾甲中的高，而在另外也捐赠了头发的另外两个人中，后一种基质中的浓度比在指甲中测量的浓度高或低。这项研究表明，指甲可能很好地代表了适当的非常规生物基质，可提供法医毒理学方面的更多信息。