High doses of nutmeg (seeds from Myristica fragrans Houtt.) can be abused as a psychoactive drug due to phenylpropene ingredients. During controlled abstinence, e.g., in forensic psychiatric clinics, nutmeg abuse has to be distinguished from an ingestion of other spices having phenylpropene ingredients (e.g., black pepper or garden lovage) or unintentional low-dose nutmeg intake. The aim of this study was to develop an evaluation model for the estimation of time point and amount of nutmeg abuse and differentiation from ingestion of other spices or low doses of nutmeg based on the gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric (GC-MS) analysis of urine samples. A total of 3 volunteers ingested 1.5 g of freshly ground nutmeg. No symptoms were reported. Urine samples were collected for up to 3 days. In addition, 18 blank samples from volunteers with regular diet and 2 authentic samples from forensic psychiatry patients with supposed nutmeg abuse were analyzed. All samples were analyzed by GC-MS in full scan mode. Metabolites of the nutmeg ingredients safrole, myristicin and elemicin were identified via a library search. For semi-quantitative estimations, the area ratios of the analytes to the internal standard (MDMA-d5) were normalized to the creatinine concentration. Up to 8 different metabolites were detected for at least 18 hours after intake of 1.5 g of nutmeg. In the two authentic samples, the normalized area ratios of those metabolites were 0.5-14 times the maximum reached in the intake study. Two additional metabolites could be detected in authentic samples. Probably due to ingestion of other spices, 5 of the 8 metabolites after intake of 1.5 g of nutmeg were detected in blank urine samples as well. The intake of high doses of nutmeg can be differentiated from the ingestion of other spices or low doses of nutmeg via standard GC-MS analysis of urine and application of the proposed evaluation model.

中文翻译：

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气相色谱-质谱法检测尿液中肉豆蔻的滥用

由于苯基丙烯成分，高剂量的肉豆蔻（肉豆蔻的种子）可被用作精神活性药物。在控制禁欲期间，例如在法医精神病诊所，必须将肉豆蔻的滥用与摄入其他含有苯丙烯成分的香料（例如黑胡椒或独木菜）或无意的低剂量肉豆蔻摄入区分开。这项研究的目的是基于尿液的气相色谱-质谱法（GC-MS）分析，开发一种评估模型，以评估时间点和肉豆蔻滥用量以及与摄入其他香料或低剂量肉豆蔻的区别样品。共有3名志愿者摄入1.5克新鲜磨碎的肉豆蔻。没有症状报告。收集尿液样品长达3天。此外，分析了18名来自常规饮食志愿者的空白样本和2名来自假定有肉豆蔻滥用的法医精神病患者的真实样本。所有样品均以全扫描模式通过GC-MS分析。肉豆蔻成分黄樟脑，肉豆蔻素和elemicin的代谢物通过图书馆检索鉴定。对于半定量估计，将分析物与内标物的面积比（MDMA-d5）标准化为肌酐浓度。摄入1.5克肉豆蔻后至少18小时内最多检测到8种不同的代谢产物。在两个真实样品中，这些代谢物的标准化面积比为摄入研究中达到的最大值的0.5-14倍。在真实样品中可以检测到另外两种代谢物。摄入1后8种代谢物中的5种可能是由于其他香料的摄入引起的。在空白尿液样本中也检测到5 g肉豆蔻。可以通过对尿液进行标准GC-MS分析和应用所提出的评估模型来区别高剂量肉豆蔻的摄入量与其他香料的摄入量或低剂量肉豆蔻的摄入量。