抄録
The Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Public Health (TIPH) is a scientific and technical organization that conducts tests, research, training, analyses, publicity of information, and monitoring and guidance in public health matters from the standpoint of protection of citizens from health hazards. Illegal drugs are investigated by TIPH in collaboration with the Pharmaceutical Affairs Division to prevent drug abuse. Analyses of illegal drugs are done using LC/PDA, GC/ EI-MS, NMR, SCXRD and HR-MS for the purpose of finding controlled drugs and unregulated newly introduced drugs. Unregulated new drugs are assayed using mice and cultured cells to evaluate the biological effects for designation as Tokyo governor-designated drugs. These data are utilized for designation as minister-designated drugs and as other prefecture governor-designated drugs.
The analyses of illegal drugs have distinct difficulties, as follows. Not all chemical standards can be purchased, and for that reason, it is sometimes necessary to purify samples, synthesize standards, or confirm the chemical structure of purchased standards. Illegal drags contain compounds with similar chemical structures; so extra time is taken to distinguish among them during analyses. During analysis, a special approach that suits the physical properties of the product is necessary, because illegal drugs are sold in many forms such as powder, liquid, herb, paper, gas cylinder and synthesis kits. New methods were developed for assays to evaluate the biological effects for illegal drugs. One of them is an inhalation exposure method. This is to evaluate effects of synthetic cannabimimetics distributed in the Tokyo area. Another method is counting the head twitch response in mouse tests to evaluate effects of hallucinogenic drugs that are difficult to evaluate by general and neurological behavior.
TIPH will continue to maintain a system for scientifically dealing with crisis management through daily and extraordinary analyses.
