1. Development of innovative strategies for the analysis of
drugs of abuse and doping compounds. Development of analytical
methods for the identification and quantitation of
classical drugs of abuse, new psychoactive substances (NPS) and doping agents in
biological and non biological samples. The instrumental techniques
used for these purposes are the high-performance liquid
chromatography coupled to different types of detection (HPLC-MS,
HPLC-UV, HPLC-DAD, HPLC-F, HPLC-ED) and the capillary electrophoresis
(CE-DAD, CE-LIF).
2. Therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) of central nervous system
drugs: antipsychotics, antidepressants, antiepileptic and
sedative-hypnotics. Identification of chemical-clinical
correlations for the optimisation and personalisation of the
psychiatric therapy.
3. Development and validation
of innovative miniaturised procedures for biological and non
biological sampling and sample pretreatment.
4. Analysis of bioactive compounds of natural origin in plant
matrices and derived products, for
nutraceutical purposes.
In more details:
1. The research on drugs of abuse are aimed at the development of
analytical methods for the identification and quantification
of classical drugs (cannabinoids, cocaine,
opiates-opioids, amphetamines) and new synthetic drugs recently put
on the black market (smart drugs, designer drugs, club drugs) and
doping agents. Neurotransmitters and their metabolites are also
considered to search for specific risk factors and correlations in
addiction cases. Studies on drugs of abuse are carried out in
collaboration with the Department of Drug Policy (DPA), some
italian SerD and prisons and the Antidoping Committee.
2. Another important line of research deals with the
therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) of drugs affecting the central
nervous system (antipsychotics, antidepressants, antiepileptic,
sedative-hypnotics). The TDM is designed to detect correlations
between the chemical-clinical dosages administered to patients and
the levels found in biological fluids, including the concentrations
found and therapeutic effects, side effects and toxicity. The
ultimate goal is to personalise the therapy and make it more
effective, thus improving the quality of life for patients and
reducing the costs of hospital treatment. These studies are carried
out in collaboration with some italian and
foreign university psychiatric clinics and italian
mental health centers.
The analytical techniques used for these two lines of
research are the HPLC with UV detection, DAD, spectrofluorimetric,
or capillary electrophoresis with DAD detector or LIF detector.
Methods based on mass spectrometry (triple quadrupole), also
coupled to liquid chromatography, are also designed.
3. Great attention is paid to the development and validation
of miniaturised pretreatment procedures for biological
samples, for example by microsolid phase extraction,
microextraction by sorbent packed (MEPS), liquid-liquid
microextraction, dried matrix spots (DMS) and volumetric absorptive microsampling (VAMS).
4. Regarding the analysis of active ingredients of plant
origin, natural extracts, foods, beverages and commercial
products are studied and highly selective methods
for the separation and quantification of the main compounds and
their secondary metabolites are carried out. These studies are
designed to test the nutraceutical power of people diet.
