{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,25]],"date-time":"2026-09-25T18:17:36Z","timestamp":1790360256639,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":16,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,5,5]],"date-time":"2021-05-05T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1620172800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Biology"],"abstract":"<jats:p>In recent years, hair has become an alternative biological specimen for drug testing in the fields of forensic and clinical toxicology. The advantages of hair testing include larger detection windows (months\/years), depending on the length of the hair shaft, compared to those of urine\/blood (hours to 2\u20134 days for most drugs). Segmental hair analysis can disclose a month-to-month (considering 1 cm segment cuts) information of drug exposure (single or repeated) and potentially identify patterns of drug use\/administration. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) was recently proposed as a valid tool for therapeutic purposes in addictions, including cocaine use disorder (CocUD). Here, we proposed hair testing analyses of classic drugs of abuse in a clinical setting to monitor the clinical changes in treatment-seeker CocUD patients undergoing protocol treatments with rTMS stimulating the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (l-DLPFC). We collected hair samples from nine CocUD patients at different stages from the beginning of treatments. Hair sample analyses revealed significant changes in the patterns of cocaine use, according to the negativity of urine screening tests and the clinical reductions of craving. These data, albeit preliminary, suggest that hair testing analysis of classic drugs of abuse could be extended to clinical settings to monitor the clinical efficacy of innovative therapeutic interventions, such as rTMS.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/biology10050403","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,5,5]],"date-time":"2021-05-05T11:06:01Z","timestamp":1620212761000},"page":"403","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":10,"title":["Hair Testing for Classic Drugs of Abuse to Monitor Cocaine Use Disorder in Patients Following Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Protocol Treatment"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"10","author":[{"given":"Maria Concetta","family":"Rotolo","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"National Centre for Addiction and Doping, Istituto Superiore di Sanit\u00e0, 00161 Rome, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Roberta","family":"Pacifici","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Centre for Addiction and Doping, Istituto Superiore di Sanit\u00e0, 00161 Rome, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3348-5297","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Manuela","family":"Pellegrini","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Centre for Addiction and Doping, Istituto Superiore di Sanit\u00e0, 00161 Rome, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6245-8741","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Stefano","family":"Cardullo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Novella Fronda Foundation, Piazza Castello, 16, 35141 Padua, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Luis J. G\u00f3mez","family":"P\u00e9rez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Novella Fronda Foundation, Piazza Castello, 16, 35141 Padua, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Diego","family":"Cuppone","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Novella Fronda Foundation, Piazza Castello, 16, 35141 Padua, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Luigi","family":"Gallimberti","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Novella Fronda Foundation, Piazza Castello, 16, 35141 Padua, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Graziella","family":"Madeo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Novella Fronda Foundation, Piazza Castello, 16, 35141 Padua, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,5,5]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"211","DOI":"10.2165\/00003088-199630030-00003","article-title":"Drug monitoring in nonconventional biological fluids and matrices","volume":"30","author":"Pichini","year":"1996","journal-title":"Clin. Pharmacokinet."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1265","DOI":"10.1515\/CCLM.2004.247","article-title":"Hair analysis in toxicology","volume":"42","author":"Villain","year":"2004","journal-title":"Clin. Chem. Lab. Med."},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"442","DOI":"10.1097\/01.ftd.0000211811.27558.b5","article-title":"Hair analysis for drug detection","volume":"28","author":"Kintz","year":"2006","journal-title":"Ther. Drug Monit."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"679","DOI":"10.1515\/cclm-2013-0784","article-title":"Rapid extraction, identification and quantification of drugs of abuse in hair by immunoassay and ultra-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry","volume":"52","author":"Pichini","year":"2014","journal-title":"Clin. Chem. Lab. Med."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"106","DOI":"10.1097\/01.ftd.0000189900.01060.92","article-title":"Assessment of Chronic Exposure to MDMA in a Group of Consumers by Segmental Hair Analysis","volume":"28","author":"Pichini","year":"2006","journal-title":"Ther. Drug Monit."},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"57","DOI":"10.1016\/j.forsciint.2011.10.011","article-title":"Hair and urine testing to assess drugs of abuse consumption in couples undergoing assisted reproductive technology (ART)","volume":"218","author":"Pichini","year":"2012","journal-title":"Forensic Sci. Int."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"145","DOI":"10.1016\/j.addbeh.2017.08.004","article-title":"Neurostimulation techniques in the treatment of cocaine dependence: A review of the literature","volume":"76","author":"Rachid","year":"2018","journal-title":"Addict. 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Available online: http:\/\/www.ema.europa.eu\/docs\/en_GB\/document_library\/Scientific_guideline\/2009\/09\/WC50_0002662.pdf."},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"107648","DOI":"10.1016\/j.drugalcdep.2019.107648","article-title":"Clinical validation of reduction in cocaine frequency level as an endpoint in clinical trials for cocaine use disorder","volume":"205","author":"Roos","year":"2019","journal-title":"Drug Alcohol Depend."},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"37","DOI":"10.1016\/S0379-0738(96)02046-4","article-title":"Concordance between self-reported drug use and findings in hair about cocaine and heroin","volume":"84","author":"Gaillard","year":"1997","journal-title":"Forensic Sci. Int."}],"container-title":["Biology"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2079-7737\/10\/5\/403\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T05:57:12Z","timestamp":1760162232000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2079-7737\/10\/5\/403"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2021,5,5]]},"references-count":16,"journal-issue":{"issue":"5","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,5]]}},"alternative-id":["biology10050403"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/biology10050403","relation":{},"ISSN":["2079-7737"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2079-7737","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2021,5,5]]}}}