Pharmacology of narcotic analgesics in the horse: quantitative detection of morphine in equine blood and urine and logit-Log transformations of this data.

The research paper examines how morphine, a narcotic drug, is detected in horse’s blood and urine, with a maximum detection period of 144 hours in urine and 24 hours in the blood serum after the horse is administered a particular dosage.

Methodology

• The researchers utilized a combination of liquid-liquid extraction and column chromatography to detect morphine in the blood and urine of horses. This was followed by a derivatization and gas-liquid chromatographic assay using an electron capture detector.
• The extraction of morphine from the biological samples wasn’t entirely efficient as the recovery was below 20%. This, however, did not hinder the detection capacity of the method which had a limit of 0.2 ng/ml.

Results

• By adding 5,000 U of bovine liver beta-glucuronidase/ml of urine, researchers were able to detect the presence of morphine in urine for up to 144 hours after horses were given a dosage of morphine equivalent to 0.1 mg/kg of their body weight.
• In serum samples, the drug was detectable for at least 24 hours.

Implication

• The research findings suggest a method of detecting morphine in equine biologic fluids over an extended period. This opens possibilities for monitoring horses for drug use.
• Besides, the study had a breakthrough with an adaptation of logit-log transformation of the chromatographic data. This method helps to linearize data over three logarithmic units, which offers a simplified adaptation to semi-automated data handling systems that are currently in use.