Journal of pharmaceutical and biomedical analysisJul 20, 2015

Measuring LSD and its main breakdown product in hair and urine for forensic tests

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Updated Mar 30, 2026

Abstract

Limits of detection for LSD in hair and urine were established at 0.25 pg/mg and 0.01 ng/ml, respectively.

Two reliable methods for detecting LSD and its metabolite in hair and urine were developed and validated.
The methods demonstrated good linearity, precision, and accuracy in quantifying low concentrations of LSD and O-H-LSD.
In two legal cases, LSD was detected in hair samples at concentrations of 1.27 and 0.95 pg/mg.
O-H-LSD was identified in one hair sample, but its concentration was below the limit of quantification.
Urine samples collected shortly after ingestion showed LSD concentrations of 0.48 and 2.70 ng/ml, with corresponding O-H-LSD levels of 4.19 and 25.2 ng/ml.

Simplified

Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) is administered in low dosages, which makes its detection in biological matrices a major challenge in forensic toxicology. In this study, two sensitive and reliable methods based on liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) were established and validated for the simultaneous determination of LSD and its metabolite, 2-oxo-3-hydroxy-LSD (O-H-LSD), in hair and urine. Target analytes in hair were extracted using methanol at 38°C for 15h and analyzed by LC-MS/MS. For urine sample preparation, liquid-liquid extraction was performed. Limits of detection (LODs) in hair were 0.25pg/mg for LSD and 0.5pg/mg for O-H-LSD. In urine, LODs were 0.01 and 0.025ng/ml for LSD and O-H-LSD, respectively. Method validation results showed good linearity and acceptable precision and accuracy. The developed methods were applied to authentic specimens from two legal cases of LSD ingestion, and allowed identification and quantification of LSD and O-H-LSD in the specimens. In the two cases, LSD concentrations in hair were 1.27 and 0.95pg/mg; O-H-LSD was detected in one case, but its concentration was below the limit of quantification. In urine samples collected from the two suspects 8 and 3h after ingestion, LSD concentrations were 0.48 and 2.70ng/ml, respectively, while O-H-LSD concentrations were 4.19 and 25.2ng/ml, respectively. These methods can be used for documenting LSD intake in clinical and forensic settings.

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Measuring LSD and its main breakdown product in hair and urine for forensic tests

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