Development of a dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction method for the evaluation of maternal–fetal exposure to cocaine employing human umbilical cord tissue.

This article focuses on the development and validation of an analytical method using dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction (DLLME) combined with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) to detect cocaine (COC) and its metabolites in human umbilical cord tissue (UCT) as a biomarker of maternal–fetal drug exposure. The method was optimized and validated for six analytes—cocaine, benzoylecgonine, cocaethylene, ecgonine, ecgonine methyl ester, and norcocaine—with limits of detection between 15 and 25 ng/g and demonstrated acceptable precision, bias, and linearity. Application of the method to 10 UCT samples from suspected cases confirmed the presence of COC analytes primarily in cases of chronic maternal use, while occasional or limited use during pregnancy often resulted in non-detection. The study highlights UCT as a practical alternative matrix for prenatal drug exposure assessment, noting that lower detection limits could improve sensitivity for occasional use cases.