This 8 page paper looks at the detection of methadone and it metabolites (by products). The paper begins with a description of the chemical structure of the methadone molecule and the identification of primary and secondary metabolites and their presence within the body. The paper then considers the different testing methodologies including immunoassay assay tests, thin layer chromatography, enzymatic analysis and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The bibliography cites 6 sources.
Name of Research Paper File: TS14_TEmethadone.rtf
Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
which is a potent narcotic, was first developed in the Second World War by the Germans, and subsequently studied in 1946. The use of methadone to treat heroin dependence began
in 1963, with dosages being used to counter the physical dependence on heroin. With drug usage such as this the need for reliable detection of methadone is important. This is
not only for the use and abuse of the substance, but also to test levels in methadone maintenance programmes. The different tests undertaken will be designed to either find
the drug itself, or to identify the metabolites. Metabolites are the substances by products that remain in the system after the drug itself has gone through the system, these are
the foot prints. The chemical structure of methadone is shown below, Figure 1 Chemical structure of methadone (Bell and Zador, 2000). Methadone has a longer term
effect than heroin, which lasts only a few hours, with does of methadone, usually given orally, will last between twenty four an seventy two hours, dependant on other factors (Narcanon,
2003). The metabolites remain in the system after the methadone has disappeared, it is these which are targeted in drug tests. Once indigested the methadone is metabolised by
the liver. This is mostly by demethylation and followed by cyclization (cytochrome P[450] 2D6 [CyP 2D6]) (Mayo, 2003) In this process the metabolites are created, the primary metabolite,
known as EDDP is 2-ethylidene-1,5-dimethyl-3,3-diphenylpyrrolidine, the secondary metabolite known as EMDP is -ethyl-5-methyl-3,3-diphenylpyrroline (Anonymous, 2003). The metabolite molecule is different from the parent molecule (Bell and Zador, 2000).
The elimination half life period for a 15 mg dose of methadone is fourteen hours (Narcanon, 2003). However, the half-life can be up to 55 hours. In looking