Background: The short chain fatty acid gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) is a precursor, and the metabolite of gamma-aminobutyric acid is commonly used as an illegal recreational drug of abuse. Methods: An ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry was developed and validated for endogenous GHB and its glucuronide in nails, to complement hair in forensic contexts for a retrospective detection of psychotropic drugs consumption. Results: GHB endogenous values for children and adolescents, adult females, and adult males in fingernails ranged from 0.3 to 3.0, 3.2, and 3.8 ng/mg, respectively, and toenails values ranged from 0.3 to 1.8, 2.0, and 2.4 ng/mg, respectively. In the three different groups, values of GHB in fingernails were statistically higher than those in toenails. GHB glucuronide could only be detected in finger nails with values ranging from 0.08 to 0.233, 0.252 and 0.243 in children and adolescents, adult females and adult males, respectively. Conclusions: The validated method was efficaciously applied to real finger and toe nails specimens from a population of males and females non GHB consumers. A preliminary cut-off of 5.0 ng/mg nail for endogenous GHB and 0.5 ng/mg for endogenous GHB-Gluc in the general population was proposed.
Keywords: GHB; GHB glucuronide; endogenous values; nails; ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry.