Beyond Sample Storage: Container-Induced Analyte Loss and Its Implications for Forensic Toxicological Analysis

The quantity of a toxin analyzed in the lab depends on what was present in the specimen or sample during collection and the subsequent methods applied to the sample. This research examines the stability of hazardous substances in both investigative and clinical samples concerning a standard jar, its sealing method, and the storage conditions. This narrative review analyzes peer-reviewed articles found through specific searches of the indexed literature, verified by their original records, using 34 sources. No numerical risk-of-bias score was applied; the quality of the evidence was instead graded qualitatively (Table 2). Lipophilic medicines, particularly cannabis, have the strongest container evidence, indicating that adhering to plastic surfaces is a significant pathway for loss. Tetrahydrocannabinol losses were from 60 to 100% in polystyrene and 30 to 50% in glass when whole blood was stored at −20 °C for 4 to 24 weeks. The recoveries of eleven synthetic cannabinoids in oral fluid kept at room temperature for 72 h varied from 9 to 54% in polypropylene and from 84 to 114% in borosilicate glass. In urine, the amount of loss of the THC carboxylic acid metabolite depended on plastic type, solution’s pH, exposure time, and internal bar-code labels, which showed a loss of almost 50%, compared to 14% for external ones. Storage temperature, freeze-thaw cycles, anticoagulants, antioxidants, and non-ionic surfactants were additional factors that needed consideration. Because almost all container comparisons concern cannabinoids, these are used as a model, and practical recommendations are limited to analyte–matrix–container combinations that have been validated. No container comparisons were found for metals, cyanide, volatile poisons, or traditional pesticides in the sources examined, so any extension of the cannabinoid findings to these toxicants remains an untested inference; this is a major limitation of the available literature

Forensic toxicology; sample vessels; adsorption loss; glass and plastic; biological specimens; additives

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