Comparison of saliva and urine samples in thin-layer chromatographic detection of central nervous stimulants.

The excretion of amphepramone, amphetamine, ephedrine and prolintane was estimated qualitatively from saliva and urine using thin-layer chromatography (TLC) 1, 2, 4, 8, 12 and 24 h after a single intake of therapeutic doses by healthy volunteers. The purpose was to compare the suitability of these two biological fluids for doping tests and it was therefore important that either the drug or its metabolites should be found in all subjects. Ephedrine was the only one to be detected regularly in saliva already 1 h after drug intake, and it was found there up to 8 h, while in urine it was found up to 24 h. In saliva, prolintane or its main metabolite did not appear during 24 h, whereas it or its metabolite were consistently found in urine 4-12 h after drug intake. Neither amphepramone nor its metabolites were detected at any time in saliva, but this drug was found, either in unchanged or in metabolized form, in urine 1-24 h after intake. The same was true for amphetamine, except at 1 h in urine. The findings did not clearly correlate with the pH of either saliva or urine samples. It is concluded that in TLC screening saliva is inferior to urine in doping tests.