Science question!

Well I remember back at the SSSF one day I asked how elements were identified, and I Z posted a link to a Wikipedia page about spectroscopy. I’ve just seen a YouTube video that said about how a particular drug was identified by metabolites in urine.

Then I was curious to know how metabolites are identified, but then found that there’s no YouTube video to explain it. So I’m hoping someone here will know?

JTQ said:

Science question!

Well I remember back at the SSSF one day I asked how elements were identified, and I Z posted a link to a Wikipedia page about spectroscopy. I’ve just seen a YouTube video that said about how a particular drug was identified by metabolites in urine.

Then I was curious to know how metabolites are identified, but then found that there’s no YouTube video to explain it. So I’m hoping someone here will know?

Time, money and spectroscopy.

If they are simple metabolites then test strips are used. These are pieces of paper that contain chemicals (such as antibodies) that change colour when exposed to specific metabolites.

“These urinalysis test strips, URS-K (Ketones) URS-3 (Glucose, Protein, pH) and URS-10 (Glucose, Protein pH, Leukocytes, Nitrites, Ketones, Bilirubin, Blood, Urobilinogen, and Specific Gravity) and URS-UTI (leukocytes and Nitrite) are simple, easy to use reagent strips for the detection of key diagnostic chemical …”

I’m less clear on what is currently used for less well known metabolites. Possibility liquid chromatography these days. In olden days distillation followed by wet chemical analysis was used.

According to this website I’ve got it right. https://drugtestingnetwork.com/urine-testing

The quick screening test uses a bank of six paper test strips dipped simultaneously into the sample. This is followed by chromatography for confirmation.

“Urine drug testing (UDT) is widely used for testing for opioids and illicit drugs. There are two types of UDT: a screening test and a confirmatory test. The screening test uses an immunoassay to look for the parent drug and/or metabolite. Most UDTs screen for marijuana, cocaine, opiates, PCP, amphetamines, while some also test for benzodiazepines and methadone. The confirmatory urine drug test is done by gas Chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) or high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC); this test is highly specific and is typically used when testing for the presence of a specific drug is needed.”

Thanks :)

As an aside, the testing can detect via sewage which areas have high illicit drug use.

AwesomeO said:

As an aside, the testing can detect via sewage which areas have high illicit drug use.

I’ve heard that before. There was a report only a year or two ago that cocaine use in a city in the US had greatly increased.

JTQ said:

AwesomeO said:

As an aside, the testing can detect via sewage which areas have high illicit drug use.

I’ve heard that before. There was a report only a year or two ago that cocaine use in a city in the US had greatly increased.

LOL. I’d missed that.

Not sure about drug testing for the Olympics. There are so many drug possibilities that a simple immunoassay on paper strips would be useless.

The World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) both publishes a list of prohibited substances and certifies labs capable of detecting those substances.

The list of prohibited substances is extremely long. See http://www.usada.org/wp-content/uploads/wada-2016-prohibited-list-en.pdf