Quantification of Ethylglucuronide in hair by Liquid Chromatography Tandem Mass Spectrometry

Ethanol is converted to acetaldehyde and subsequently to acetic acid by liver enzymes. The traditional approach to assess the extent of alcohol consumption is through blood and urine analysis but unless the blood or urine samples are stored in appropriate specimen containers, with preservatives such as fluoride oxalate, ethanol can be produced as an artifact of bacterial fermentation post collection. This can result in elevated and hence inaccurate ethanol concentrations in these samples which can potentially affect the interpretation of any results obtained.

As ethanol metabolism is independent of dose, blood and urine concentrations can vary widely between individuals, however with hair analysis the use of a 30 pg/mg cut off, as proposed by the Society of Hair Testing (SoHT), can be applied as standard. 

This application note details a rapid, robust, sensitive and specific LC-MS/MS assay for the quantification of ETG, a marker for chronic excessive alcohol consumption, in hair, which has been developed in accordance with ISO17025 standards.