Determination of endogenous concentration of γ-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) in hair through an ad hoc GC–MS analysis: A study on a wide population and influence of gender and age

• GHB hair analysis was performed to study age and sex influence on its baseline.
• In male, GHB levels were higher than in female, with a greater data dispersion.
• In male, GHB levels were higher <30 and constant in 30–50 and >50 years-old.
• In female, concentrations were quite similar in all the age ranges.
• High interpretative valence of segmental hair analysis was highlighted.

γ-Hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) spread for recreational purposes or as “rape drug” represents a hard issue for forensic toxicologists due to its endogenous nature. It is clear that an actual and reliable discrimination between basal and exogenous levels is mandatory to achieve a correct evaluation of conscious/unconscious administration. This research aimed to study the GHB baseline in hair samples, collected from 150 volunteers, non-consumers of any drugs of abuse, in order to evaluate if a generic cut-off value could be accepted, also focusing on potential influences of gender and age. The analysis consisted of an overnight incubation with NaOH at 56 °C, liquid–liquid extraction with ethylacetate and trimethylsylil derivatization. Detection was carried out through gas chromatography-mass spectrometry in single ion monitoring (m/z 233, 234, 147 for GHB; m/z 239, 240 and 147 for GHB-d6). The endogenous amount in “blank” hair was estimated by the standard addition method. Concentration range was 0.279–2.839 ng/mg. In males, the average GHB levels were higher than in females (0.829 vs 0.596 ng/mg, respectively), especially in the first age category (<30 years, 1.008 vs 0.606 ng/mg, respectively). Age influences on GHB levels seemed to be different among the two sexes: in male population concentrations were higher <30 (1.008 ng/mg) and similar in the other age ranges (0.762 ng/mg, 30–50; 0.763 ng/mg, >50); in female, quite similar levels were registered throughout all the age categories (0.606 ng/mg, <30; 0.536 ng/mg, 30–50; 0.691 ng/mg, >50). Further study should be performed on GHB physiology in order to better understand these differences among ages and genders. Moreover, we demonstrated that for hair analysis a cut-off reference value is not strictly mandatory, underlining the great interpretative valence of segmental analysis.

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