Determination of etil glucuronide, metabolite of ethanol, in human hair

Alcohol is one of the substances which usage is becoming widespread more and more. It is a known fact that alcohol is a facilitative factor for the traffic accidents, injuries, natural deaths and other forensic cases. Alcohol addiction named as alcolism is one of the most common addictions. Negative influences of alcohol abused constitute economic and social problems on individiual and society. Detection of the use of ethanol for a relatively long period of time after intake could be very important for monitoring abstinence in clinical and forensic context. In recent years, Hair is routinely used on toxicological analysis as well as biological samples such as blood and urine. The major practical advantages of hair testing are larger detection windows; the sample collection is non-invasive; it is easy to transport and store it and also hair analysis can provide a retrospective calendar of an individual?s alcohol use.A method for the determination of ethyl glucuronide (EtG) in hair samples, using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), was developed. Furtermore, Hydrophilic Interaction Liquid Chromatography (HILIC) column was used for analyzing polar molecules and so EtG was detected in all hair samples with high sensitivity. Limit of Detection (LOD) and Limit of Quantification (LOQ) were calculated 0.05-0.18 pg/mg, respectively.These results demonstrate that determination of EtG concentration in hair can be give information about the daily alcohol intake.