Journal:Recent advances in electrochemical sensor technologies for THC detection—A narrative review
| Full article title | Recent advances in electrochemical sensor technologies for THC detection—A narrative review |
|---|---|
| Journal | Journal of Cannabis Research |
| Author(s) | Amini, Kaveh; Sepehrifard, Ali; Valinasabpouri, Ali; Safruk, Jennifer; Angelone, Davide; de Campos Lourenco, Tiago |
| Author affiliation(s) | Selective Lab, Inc. |
| Primary contact | Email: kamini at selectivelab dot com |
| Year published | 2022 |
| Volume and issue | 4 |
| Article # | 12 |
| DOI | 10.1186/s42238-022-00122-3 |
| ISSN | 2522-5782 |
| Distribution license | Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International |
| Website | https://jcannabisresearch.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s42238-022-00122-3 |
| Download | https://jcannabisresearch.biomedcentral.com/track/pdf/10.1186/s42238-022-00122-3.pdf (PDF) |
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This article should be considered a work in progress and incomplete. Consider this article incomplete until this notice is removed. |
Abstract
Background: delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC or simply THC) is the main psychoactive component and one of the most important medicinal compounds in cannabis. Whether in human body fluids and breath or in laboratory and field samples, rapid and easy detection of THC is crucial. It provides insights into the impact of THC on the human organism, as well as its medicinal benefits. It also guides cannabis growers in determining different stages of the growth of the plant in the field, and eventually it helps scientists in the laboratory to assure the quality of the products and determine their potency or better understand product development procedures. The significance of fast THC detection in forensic analysis also cannot be overlooked. Electrochemical sensor technologies show promise in fulfilling the need for fast, easy, and low-cost detection of THC.
Method: In this work, we review the recent advances in sensor technologies developed for the purpose of fast and accurate THC detection. Research performed mostly in the past decade, and that detecting THC directly without any derivatization, was the main target of this review. The scope of this narrative review was reports on detecting THC in synthetic samples and plants as well as oral fluid.
Results: Electrochemical sensor technologies are sensitive enough and have the potential for fast, easy, and low-cost detection of THC for roadside testing, THC trending in growing cannabis plants, THC product development, and formulation for medical purposes, etc. They can also provide an alternative for costly chromatography and mass spectrometry-based methods.
Conclusion: The main challenges facing electrochemical sensors, however, are nonspecific interaction and the interference of compounds and species from the matrix. Special requirement for storing sensors modified with antibodies or proteins is another challenge in this field. Preparing long-lasting and reusable sensors is a field worthy of attention.
Keywords: Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol, THC, sensor, cannabis, electrochemical detection
Introduction
In light of the legalization of medicinal and recreational cannabis in Canada and many states in the United Stats, as well as other countries around the world, a great deal of attention has been given to the research in different areas of cannabis chemistry. (Crean et al. 2011) Additionally, a growing body of evidence for the therapeutic effects of cannabis has turned cannabis research into a hot topic. (Hill 2015; Hoffmann and Weber 2010) Over 60 unique cannabinoids have been identified in the Cannabis plant. (Vemuri and Makriyannis 2015) Out of these cannabinoids, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC or simply THC), cannabidiol (CBD), and cannabinol (CBN) are the most significant ones. (Grotenhermen 2003) THC is responsible for the psychoactive property of cannabis and causes euphoria, drowsiness, hallucinations, and temporal distortions. (Ashton 2001) CBD, another significant cannabinoid, on the other hand is not psychoactive; however, it has neuroprotective, sedating, anti-inflammatory, and analgesic impacts. (Chakravarti et al. 2014; Hill 2019; Klimuntowski et al. 2020; Mechoulam et al. 2007)
However, the legalization of cannabis has also raised concerns about driving under the influence of THC. An increase in the number of cases of THC-impaired driving has been reported in regions of the world where cannabis has been legalized. (Kalant 2001; Zuardi 2006; Kim et al. 2013) This has led to questions and doubts about how to best approach testing for potential THC levels in drivers.[1] Electrochemical sensors may make for one possible approach to this problem, as well for other cannabis testing applications.
Background on electrochemical sensors for THC analysis
Electrochemical sensors provide a highly sensitive tool for the analysis of THC, and they also have advantages such as easy miniaturization and usability in turbid matrices. In these sensors, the current or potential change, which occurs as a result of the interactions or reactions at the interface between the sensor surface and the samples solution, is measured. On the basis of the electrochemical technique used for detection, these sensors can be broadly categorized as potentiometric, impedimetric, voltammetric, and amperometric.[2] In potentiometric sensors, measurements are based on the development of electrochemical potential in proportion to the activity of the analyte.[3] In impedimetric sensors, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) is employed as the detection technique. In these sensors, a low voltage sinusoidal potential is applied at different frequencies to the sensor and the impedance is measured as a function of frequencies using the resulting current. The interaction between the analyte and a biorecognition element immobilized on the sensor surface will cause changes in the impedance. The results will be interpreted in terms of an equivalent circuit.[4] (Another major advantage of impedance-based sensors is being label-free.[5]) Voltammetric sensors employ electrochemical techniques such as cyclic voltammetry, square wave voltammetry, and differential pulse voltammetry, whereas in the case of amperometric sensors, the changes in current are followed.[6]
Figure 1 illustrates the mechanism under which electrochemical sensors operate towards the detection of THC, according to Renaud-Young et al. (2019)
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Recent advances in sensor technologies
References
- ↑ Pearlson, Godfrey D.; Stevens, Michael C.; D'Souza, Deepak Cyril (24 September 2021). "Cannabis and Driving". Frontiers in Psychiatry 12: 689444. doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2021.689444. ISSN 1664-0640. PMC PMC8499672. PMID 34630173. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.689444/full.
- ↑ Dzulkurnain, Nurul Akmaliah; Mokhtar, Marliyana; Rashid, Jahwarhar Izuan Abdul; Knight, Victor Feizal; Wan Yunus, Wan Md Zin; Ong, Keat Khim; Mohd Kasim, Noor Azilah; Mohd Noor, Siti Aminah (15 August 2021). "A Review on Impedimetric and Voltammetric Analysis Based on Polypyrrole Conducting Polymers for Electrochemical Sensing Applications" (in en). Polymers 13 (16): 2728. doi:10.3390/polym13162728. ISSN 2073-4360. PMC PMC8401594. PMID 34451266. https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/13/16/2728.
- ↑ Yunus, Sami; Jonas, Alain M.; Lakard, Boris (2013), Roberts, Gordon C. K., ed., "Potentiometric Biosensors" (in en), Encyclopedia of Biophysics (Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg): 1941–1946, doi:10.1007/978-3-642-16712-6_714, ISBN 978-3-642-16711-9, http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-642-16712-6_714. Retrieved 2022-05-29
- ↑ Bahadır, Elif Burcu; Sezgintürk, Mustafa Kemal (2 January 2016). "A review on impedimetric biosensors" (in en). Artificial Cells, Nanomedicine, and Biotechnology 44 (1): 248–262. doi:10.3109/21691401.2014.942456. ISSN 2169-1401. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.3109/21691401.2014.942456.
- ↑ Daniels, Jonathan S.; Pourmand, Nader (1 June 2007). "Label-Free Impedance Biosensors: Opportunities and Challenges" (in en). Electroanalysis 19 (12): 1239–1257. doi:10.1002/elan.200603855. PMC PMC2174792. PMID 18176631. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/elan.200603855.
- ↑ Tajik, Somayeh; Dourandish, Zahra; Jahani, Peyman Mohammadzadeh; Sheikhshoaie, Iran; Beitollahi, Hadi; Shahedi Asl, Mehdi; Jang, Ho Won; Shokouhimehr, Mohammadreza (2021). "Recent developments in voltammetric and amperometric sensors for cysteine detection" (in en). RSC Advances 11 (10): 5411–5425. doi:10.1039/D0RA07614G. ISSN 2046-2069. PMC PMC8694840. PMID 35423079. http://xlink.rsc.org/?DOI=D0RA07614G.
Notes
This presentation is faithful to the original, with only a few minor changes to presentation. Some grammar and punctuation was cleaned up to improve readability. In some cases important information was missing from the references, and that information was added. The discussion about driving under the influence of THC was deemed too abrupt, and a few extra sentences and a citation were added to help the introduction flow better into discussion about electrochemical sensors. Additionally, the original has an introduction section that leads directly into a conclusion section, which is awkward; in this version, content has been divided up into more sections to better segue from the introduction to the conclusion. The Amini and Kratz citations of the original do not back up the claims about different electrochemical sensor modes; they were omitted for this version and more relevant citations were added in the discussion of electrochemical sensor modes.
