Last Updates on Biomarkers of Exposure to Psychoactive Substances in Humans

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to launch a Special Issue focusing on the determination of biomarkers of exposure to psychoactive substances.

Analytical evidence of human exposure to psychotropic substances often depends on the detectability of those molecules and/or their metabolites in biological matrices. After absorption, xenobiotics enter the blood to reach the molecular target through the circulatory system where they can exert their effects.

In the past century, the presence and disposition of a drug inside the human body and eventual association with clinical/subjective effects had been mainly detected by blood and urine testing, since it was not always possible or desirable (because it was difficult and/or invasive) to sample other biological matrices and fluids. Nonetheless, the measurement of drug concentration in fluids and matrices other than blood and urine (the so-called “nonconventional fluids and matrices”) has gained increasing importance. First of all, improved technology (noninvasive sample collection, dedicated devices for sample collection, different possibilities of extraction procedures, and new-generation analytical instrumentation) has made the measurement of minute quantities of parent substances and/or metabolites extracted from complex biological matrices possible. Secondly, it appears that the determination of drug and/or metabolite concentrations in nonconventional human body materials may be useful for two principal applications: firstly, the possibility of determining pharmacokinetic parameters at the target organ and target concentration intervention; and secondly, the expansion of drug detection window obtaining information on past and possible long-term exposure.

Since, before being eliminated, drugs undergo phase I and phase II metabolism, biomarkers of exposure to those substances are usually one or more metabolites, and their analytical characterization plays an essential role in the objective assessment of exposure to psychotropic substances.

In this Special Issue, attention will be focused on the analytical challenges posed by the characterization and determination of the most effective biomarkers of traditional and new psychoactive substances, within the framework of clinical and forensic toxicology.

Prof. Simona Zaami
Dr. Enrico Marinelli
Dr. Roberta Pacifici
Prof. Raffaele Giorgetti
Dr. Simona Pichini
Guest Editors

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