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Differentiation of endogenous and exogenous γ-Hydroxybutyrate in rat and human urine by GC/C/IRMS

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A Correction to this article was published on 28 August 2019

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Abstract

Gamma (γ)-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) has been reported to be an endogenous compound in the mammalian brain. It used to treat symptoms of alcohol, opioid, and drug withdrawal and cataplexy of narcolepsy. However, it is often used for criminal purposes because it is colorless, tasteless, and has short half-life. For this reason, there is a need for a method of distinguishing between endogenous and exogenous GHB administration. Therefore, urine from rat before administration of GHB and GHB urine after the single intraperitoneal injection of GHB as 30 mg/100 g were collected from Sprague-Dawley rats (7 weeks old, 10 males and females). Negative control urine, urine from individuals suspected of taking GHB, and urine from victims who were GHB-involved crime were collected. In urine samples, GHB was extracted with two-step SPE and collected fraction was derivatized and analyzed by GC/MS and GC/C/IRMS. In GC/MS and GC/C/IRMS analysis of rat urine, there was a statistically significant difference between urine from rat before administration of GHB and GHB rat urine (p < 0.05). In GC/MS analysis of human urine samples, there was no significant difference among human urine groups (negative control, suspects’ urine, and victims’ urine), but in GC/C/IRMS analysis of human urine samples, there was a statistically significant difference among human urine groups (p = 0.0001). Through these results, GC/C/IRMS can be more effective tool to identify endogenous and exogenous GHB in urine than GC/MS. This study can build a drug management system in forensic investigation agency and offer interpretation method to forensic science and court.

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Change history

  • 28 August 2019

    The above article was published online with incorrect author names. The right spelling should be Dong-Hun Lee instead of Donghun Lee, Sanggil Choe instead of Sanggil Choi. The correct names are presented here. The original article has been corrected.

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Acknowledgments

Hyojeong Kim and Dong-Hun Lee equally contributed to this study as first authors. And the authors would like to thank Seojeong Jang and Namji Kwon in Duksung Women’s University for competently performing the laboratory experiments and technical help and comments.

Funding

This study was funded by National Forensic Service (NFS) (grant number is 2017-04, the development of analysis method for identification of endogenous and exogenous GHB) and Priority Research Centers Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Republic of Korea (grant number is 2016R1A6A1A03007648).

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Author notes

  1. Hyojeong Kim and Dong-Hun Lee equally contributed to this study as first authors.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Pharmacy, Duksung Women’s University, Seoul, 01369, South Korea

    Hyojeong Kim, Ahra Go & Eunyoung Han

  2. Innovative Drug Center, Duksung Women’s University, Seoul, South Korea

    Hyojeong Kim & Eunyoung Han

  3. Department of Marine Science and Convergent Technology, Hanyang University, Ansan, 15588, South Korea

    Dong-Hun Lee & Kyung-Hoon Shin

  4. National Forensic Service, Wonju, South Korea

    Meejung Park, Sanggil Choe, Sanghwan In & Eunmi Kim

  5. CHEM.I.NET,Ltd, Room 302, 773-3, Mok-dong, Yangcheon-gu, Seoul, South Korea

    Hunjoo Lee

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  1. Hyojeong Kim
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Correspondence to Kyung-Hoon Shin or Eunyoung Han.

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The original version of this article was revised: The above article was published online with incorrect author names. The right spelling should be Dong-Hun Lee instead of Donghun Lee, Sanggil Choe instead of Sanggil Choi.

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Kim, H., Lee, DH., Go, A. et al. Differentiation of endogenous and exogenous γ-Hydroxybutyrate in rat and human urine by GC/C/IRMS. Int J Legal Med 133, 1785–1794 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-019-02052-x

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