Journal of Chromatography B, 879 (2011) 541–547 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Chromatography B journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/chromb Short Communication Hair analysis and self-report of methamphetamine use by methamphetamine dependent individuals Eunyoung Han a,b , Martin P. Paulus c,d , Marc Wittmann c,d , Heesun Chung a , Joon myong Song b,∗ a National Forensic Service, 331-1 Shinwol 7-Dong, Yang-Chun Gu, Seoul, South Korea b Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences and College of Pharmacy, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-742, South Korea c Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, CA 92037, USA d Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego, CA 92161, USA article info Article history: Received 7 November 2010 Accepted 4 January 2011 Available online 12 January 2011 Keywords: Methamphetamine Hair analysis Drug history Segmental analysis GC/MS abstract The questions of whether the dose of drug that is consumed corresponds to drug concentration levels in hair and how results of hair analyses can be interpreted are still debated. The aim of this study was to investigate (1) whether there is a correlation between doses of Methamphetamine (MA) use and MA con- centration levels in hair and (2) whether results of hair analyses can be used to estimate dose, frequency, and patterns of MA use. In this study, segmental hair analysis was performed through consecutive 1 cm as well as 1–4 cm (=3 cm) segmental hair lengths. MA dependent individuals (n = 9) provided information on doses (0.25–4 g/day) of MA use as well as the frequency of MA use. The concentrations of MA and its metabolite amphetamine (AP) in hair were determined using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) test was performed to evaluate whether MA and AP concentrations in consecutive 1 cm length segmental hair were consistent with the history of MA use. The cumulative doses of MA use calculated from the daily dose and the frequency during 1–4 months were well correlated to the concentrations of MA and AP in 1–4 cm segmental hair length (correlation coefficient, r = 0.87 for MA and r = 0.77 for AP). The results from this study show the patterns and histories of MA use from MA dependent individuals and could assist in the interpretation of hair results in forensic toxicology as well as in rehabilitation and treatment programs. © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Examination of drug concentration levels in hair is a useful method for studying the history of drug addiction. In addition, seg- mental hair analysis is capable of clarifying the time course of drug use. Researchers have attempted to elucidate the history of drug use using segmental hair analysis. Nakahara et al. postulated that hair analysis, especially segmental analysis, may be useful in deter- mining past drug history [1,2]. Pichini et al. reported the suitability of segmental hair analysis of Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) to monitor past chronic exposure to the drug in ecstasy consumers [3]. The correlation between the dose of drug use and the con- centration of the drug in hair still remains controversial. Forensic scientists commonly encounter the problems and doubts in appli- cation of hair testing and data interpretations. There have been many studies about relationship between drug histories and drug concentration in hair related to cocaine and heroine [4–10]. These studies reported either a strong or a weak association between ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +82 2 880 7841; fax: +82 2 871 2238. E-mail address: jmsong@snu.ac.kr (J.m. Song). drug dose and the hair analysis. Most likely, weak relations and interindividual differences are due to a substantive individual bio- variability, variability of hair-growth cycles, hair color, cosmetic treatment and unknown purity of compounds [5,11,12]. Methamphetamine (MA) is a sympathomimetic amine whose abuse has become a serious problem in Asian countries and the United States. However, MA is not among the compounds fre- quently studied in correlation studies and the number of MA subjects in existing studies is rather small [13]. Despite the preva- lence of MA use, there is little data on the concentrations of MA and AP in hair in the United States and the mode of administration in published studies is not specifically explained [14,15]. To our knowledge, there have been few studies of MA concentration lev- els in human hair following controlled administration of MA. Most studies rely on self-reports of MA use [1,14–16] or conducted ani- mal studies [1,16] to investigate the relationship between the dose of MA consumed and MA concentrations in hair. Fearing legal consequences and embarrassment of admitted MA use, most suspects tend to deny or, to underreport MA consump- tion. However, the self-reported histories of MA use from subjects who voluntarily participate in and consent to our research design in an alcohol and drug treatment program should be more accurate because disclosure of information has no consequences regarding 1570-0232/$ – see front matter © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jchromb.2011.01.002