attention deficit / hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) drug abuse, often by teenagers and young adults has increased visits to emergency rooms. A January 2006 Food and Drug Administration advisory panel recommended that ADHD drugs are an indication of the increased potential for heart problems such as hypertension, cardiac arrest and stroke. The possibility of experiencing medical problems may be exacerbated by the use of ADHD drugs inappropriately or in combination with other drugs.
ADHD is Ritalin drugs prescription is most often abused. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system that is chemically known as methylphenidate, which when metabolized by the liver, is ritalinic acid (RA) i. e. when someone in a POP pill Ritalin in the liver that methylphenidate is metabolized or converted ritalinic acid as a primary metabolite. Now, both methylphenidate & ritalinic its acid metabolite can be used for diagnostic purposes. Different diagnostic techniques have been developed in recent decades to the identification and quantification of drugs, some of the most common were briefly mentioned below:
• liquid / gas chromatography
• Mass Spectrometry
• Enzyme Linked Immunoassays
Liquid / Gas Chromatography: Chromatography is a method used to separate mixtures due to differences in their absorption capacity. The most frequently used methods for separating a chemical compound and subsequent identification include gas chromatography (GC) and liquid chromatography (HPLC). HPLC employs incompressible silica or alumina μ-beads as stationary phase and pressures up to several thousand pounds per square inch on the sample that is most often the urine.
Mass Spectrometry: Evolution of technology and methodology in the field of mass spectrometry has been rapid over the past seven years and are very sensitive and provide specific strategies for drug detection purposes. In this, a spectroscope is used to obtain a mass spectrum by deflecting ions into a thin slit and measuring the ionic current with an electrometer. Usually, selected reaction monitoring (SRM) and a source of electro-spray ionization (EIS) are used to detect both methylphenidate and the most common urinary metabolite is the acid ritalinic in this case. The major advantage of MS analysis is that this ionization technique tolerates a reasonable amount of impurities in the sample and different samples can be processed quickly in an automated manner and can be stored on the target for several days without compromising the quality of the analysis, enabling easy reuse of analysis if necessary.
Enzyme linked immuno-assay: ELISA uses antibodies that are covalently linked to an enzyme “Reporter”, such as alkaline phosphatase or horseradish peroxidase, enzymes whose products are easy to detect, often only by a change color. The serum or urine to be tested is placed along a solution of antibodies covalently linked to an enzyme reporter. If methylphenidate or ritalinic acid is present, antibodies specific to accede. The presence and quantity of bound antibody is then determined by adding the substrate for the enzyme reporter and quantitative analysis can be performed on the basis of the intensity of color developed.
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