BIO-SUCCESS: BIOmarkers Sustainable Collection and Complete Extraction in Salivaomics and forensic Sciences

In recent years, the use of so-called "alternative" matrices in clinical and forensic analysis is increasing: the reason is probably in the advantages they present compared to the "conventional" matrices such as blood and urine. Oral fluid (OF) for example has a simple and non-invasive collection, eliminating in this way the skills required for blood sample collection. Since the collection of OF specimens can be carried out under direct supervision, without infringing privacy, it does not suffer from the same issues regarding possible adulteration or substitution as for urine. [1] Furthermore, the target compounds can be found in non-metabolised state and the saliva/blood ratio is generally well known. Although it is extremely simple and fast, sampling is carried out with disposable buccal devices, generally of polyester or similar plastic material that constitute a potential waste that must be disposed of. The World Health Organization has recently highlighted how the pandemic of COVID-19 has led to a sharp increase in medical waste, putting a strain on health facilities with appropriate disposal and aggravating the presence of solid waste, potentially harmful to human and environmental health. It has been estimated that over 140 million kits have been used for virus detection while 8 billion doses of vaccine have been administered, with a potential generation of 2600 tons of plastic waste, 731,000 litres of chemical waste 144,000 tonnes of waste such as syringes, needles and safety-boxes. [2] In some cases, wastes are incinerated with the emissions of harmful substances such as dioxins, furans and particulates; they are found also in residual and other airborne gas and in the effluent gases released through incinerator chimneys. [3] WHO claims include the use of eco-friendly packaging and shipping, safe and reusable PPE (e.g. medical gloves and masks), recyclable or biodegradable materials; investment in non-fuel waste treatment technologies, such as autoclaves; reverse logistics to support centralized processing and recycling investments to ensure that materials, such as plastics, can have a second life. [1] This work is focused on the design and subsequent development of a sampling device for oral fluid that can be applied in forensic and clinical analysis. The device is water soluble, biocompatible and it is printed using 3D technology. These features allow to solubilize the device head in an appropriate solvent; furthermore, by means of miniaturized techniques, this device provides the complete extraction of the analytes from the matrix and clean-up the sample before performing an HPLC-MS/MS analysis for analytes determination. The developed device was successfully tested for oral fluid sampling in forensic research of different psychoactive substances, including synthetic cannabinoids, a class of analytes whose great affinity for plastic materials is well known. [4]