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New biomarker may extend detection window for date-rape drug GHB

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New biomarker may extend detection window for date-rape drug GHB

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Every hour is critical when it comes to detecting the use of drugs used to render victims unconscious. The substance GHB, which is commonly used in this way, is excreted rapidly from blood and urine. Researchers at the University of Zurich have been evaluating a new biomarker using urine samples from real forensic cases. This biomarker can indicate earlier GHB intake even when the drug is no longer detectable using conventional analysis.

Gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) can be consumed as a recreational drug or administered secretly to knock victims out. Disturbed consciousness and memory gaps are just two of its effects. Its use is difficult to prove in forensic medicine, however. The usual detection window is about six hours in the blood and 12 hours in the urine. What's more, GHB occurs in small amounts naturally in the body and can also be released after death.

Back in 2021, a research team led by Andrea Steuer at the Institute of Forensic Medicine at the University of Zurich, working with the University Hospital of Psychiatry Zurich, discovered a promising biomarker. It is a compound of GHB and a sugar, thought to be ribose, and is known as GHB-pentose. The exact chemical structure has not yet been established conclusively. Unlike GHB itself, this biomarker remains detectable in the urine for longer after intake.

The potential of GHB-pentose was examined in greater detail in subsequent controlled studies.


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