Journal of Analytical & Bioanalytical Techniques
Open Access

Research Article

Rapid Identification of Buprenorphine in Patient Saliva

Stuart Farquharson^1*, Kathryn Dana¹, Chetan Shende¹, Zachary Gladding¹, Jenelle Newcomb^2,3, Jessica Dascher^2,3, Ismene Petrakis L^2,3 and Albert Arias J^2,3

¹Real-Time Analyzers, Inc., 362 Industrial Park Road, Unit 8, Middletown, CT 06457, USA

²Veteran Affairs CT Healthcare System, USA

³Yale University School of Medicine, USA

*Corresponding Author:

Stuart Farquharson
Real-Time Analyzers, Inc., 362 Industrial Park Road
Unit 8, Middletown, CT 06457, USA
Tel: 860-635-9800-230
E-mail: stu@rta.biz

Received Date: June 13, 2017 Accepted Date: June 20, 2017 Published Date: June 23, 2017

Citation: Farquharson S, Dana K, Shende C, Gladding Z, Newcomb J, et al. (2017) Rapid Identification of Buprenorphine in Patient Saliva. J Anal Bioanal Tech 8: 368. doi: 10.4172/2155-9872.1000368

Copyright: © 2017 Farquharson S, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Buprenorphine is becoming the medication of choice to help patients withdraw from opioid addiction. However, treatment is compromised by the inability of physicians to assess patient usage during scheduled examinations. Here we describe the development of a point-of-care (POC) analyzer that can rapidly measure both illicit and treatment drugs in patient saliva, ideally in the physician’s office, and with a degree of accuracy similar to chromatography. The analyzer employs a relatively simple supported liquid extraction to isolate the drugs from the saliva and surfaceenhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) to detect the drugs. The SERS-based POC analyzer was used to identify buprenorphine and opioids in saliva samples by matching library spectra to samples collected from 7 veterans. The total analysis time, including sample preparation, was ~25 minutes. Buprenorphine concentration was estimated between 0 and 3 μg/mL. While no other prescription opioids were detected in any samples, heroin was identified in one sample; Δ-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) was detected in 3 samples; and acetaminophen, caffeine, and nicotine were detected in several samples, none of which interfered with the measurements. The analysis was in very good agreement with urinalysis, correctly identifying the presence or absence of buprenorphine and THC in 13 of 14 measurements.

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