Analysis of 28 hair samples from users of the hallucinogenic beverage ayahuasca

Mengxi Liu; Huan Yang; Jing Hu; Baohua Shen; Ping Xiang; Huosheng Qiang; Hongxiao Deng; Zhiguo Yu; Yan Shi

doi:10.1016/j.forsciint.2021.110790

Analysis of 28 hair samples from users of the hallucinogenic beverage ayahuasca

Forensic Sci Int. 2021 Apr 20:323:110790. doi: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2021.110790. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Mengxi Liu¹, Huan Yang¹, Jing Hu², Baohua Shen², Ping Xiang², Huosheng Qiang², Hongxiao Deng², Zhiguo Yu³, Yan Shi⁴

Affiliations

¹ School of Pharmacy, Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, Wenhua Road 103, Shenhe District, Shenyang 110016, China; Department of Forensic Toxicology, Academy of Forensic Science, Ministry of Justice, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Forensic Medicine, No.1347 Guangfu Xi Road, Shanghai 200063, China.
² Department of Forensic Toxicology, Academy of Forensic Science, Ministry of Justice, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Forensic Medicine, No.1347 Guangfu Xi Road, Shanghai 200063, China.
³ School of Pharmacy, Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, Wenhua Road 103, Shenhe District, Shenyang 110016, China. Electronic address: zhiguo-yu@163.com.
⁴ Department of Forensic Toxicology, Academy of Forensic Science, Ministry of Justice, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Forensic Medicine, No.1347 Guangfu Xi Road, Shanghai 200063, China. Electronic address: shiy@ssfjd.cn.

PMID: 33894686
DOI: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2021.110790

Abstract

Ayahuasca is a psychoactive beverage widely used in religious ceremonies in Amazonia. Dimethyltryptamine is the main active compound of ayahuasca. Dimethyltryptamine has many hazardous effects, including hallucinations. In the present study, a fast and reliable UPLC-MS/MS method was developed and validated for the quantitation of dimethyltryptamine in hair samples. Twenty-milligram hair samples were pulverized with methanol below 4 °C. After ultrasonication, centrifugation and filtration, 200 μL of supernatant was placed into an autosampler vial for LC-MS/MS analysis. The lower limit of quantitation (LLOQ) was 3 pg/mg. The resulting calibration curve for dimethyltryptamine fit the expression y = 281.50213x + 0.00231 (R² = 0.992). Acceptable intraday and interday precision (RSD < 15%) and accuracy (92-113%) were achieved. The dilution integrity was deemed acceptable based on accuracy (96%) and precision (1.8%). The validated method was successfully applied to 28 forensic cases. The concentrations of dimethyltryptamine ranged from 3 to 1109 pg/mg.

Keywords: Ayahuasca; Dimethyltryptamine; Hair analysis; LC-MS/MS.