| Title |
Detection of diazepam in urine, hair and preserved oral fluid samples with LC-MS-MS after single and repeated administration of Myolastan® and Valium®
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
Analytical & Bioanalytical Chemistry, April 2007
|
| DOI | 10.1007/s00216-007-1297-9 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Marleen Laloup, Maria del Mar Ramirez Fernandez, Michelle Wood, Viviane Maes, Gert De Boeck, Yvan Vanbeckevoort, Nele Samyn |
| Abstract |
Sedative agents are used to facilitate sexual assault due to their ability to render the victim passive, submissive and unable to resist. The primary pharmacological effect of the benzodiazepine tetrazepam is muscle relaxation, whereas the benzodiazepine diazepam acts on the central nervous system (CNS) exerting mainly sedation effects. Therefore, contrary to tetrazepam, diazepam is an often-abused drug, which can potentially be used as a date-rape drug. In this study, we describe the detection of low amounts of diazepam in Myolastan (Sanofi-Synthelabo S.A., Brussels, Belgium) and Epsipam (Will-Pharma, Wavre, Belgium) 50 mg tablet preparations by LC-MS-MS, GC-FID and HPLC-DAD. Considering the important forensic implication of this finding, a study was conducted with volunteers receiving a single or repeated dosage of Myolastan. Urine, hair and preserved oral fluid samples were analysed using a previously described sensitive and specific LC-MS-MS detection method allowing for the simultaneous quantification of tetrazepam, diazepam, nordiazepam, oxazepam and temazepam. This study demonstrates that diazepam can be observed in urine samples even after a single dose of Myolastan. In addition, maintaining therapy for 1 week results in the detection of both diazepam and nordiazepam in urine samples and of diazepam in the first hair segment. Importantly, comparing urine and hair samples after a single intake of diazepam versus the single and 1 week administration of Myolastan shows that the possible metabolic conversion of tetrazepam to diazepam is a more plausible explanation for the detection of diazepam in biological samples after the intake of Myolastan. As such, these results reveal that the presence of diazepam and/or nordiazepam in biological samples from alleged drug-facilitated assault cases should be interpreted with care. |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 58 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 1 | 2% |
| United States | 1 | 2% |
| Poland | 1 | 2% |
| Brazil | 1 | 2% |
| Unknown | 54 | 93% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Researcher | 10 | 17% |
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 9 | 16% |
| Student > Bachelor | 9 | 16% |
| Student > Master | 6 | 10% |
| Other | 5 | 9% |
| Other | 13 | 22% |
| Unknown | 6 | 10% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Chemistry | 21 | 36% |
| Medicine and Dentistry | 12 | 21% |
| Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutical Science | 6 | 10% |
| Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 3 | 5% |
| Psychology | 3 | 5% |
| Other | 6 | 10% |
| Unknown | 7 | 12% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 6. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 11 August 2020.
All research outputs
#5,446,994
of 25,374,647 outputs
Outputs from Analytical & Bioanalytical Chemistry
#885
of 9,619 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#16,480
of 86,624 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Analytical & Bioanalytical Chemistry
#8
of 47 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,374,647 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done well and is in the 75th percentile: it's in the top 25% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 9,619 research outputs from this source. They receive a mean Attention Score of 3.1. This one has done well, scoring higher than 85% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 86,624 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 71% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 47 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 57% of its contemporaries.