Urinary concentrations of codeine and morphine after the administration of different codeine preparations in relation...

A capillary GC method with nitrogen-specific detection is described for the analysis of codeine and morphine in urine. Both drugs were determined after enzymatic hydrolysis of the urine. Morphine was derivatized with trifluoroacetic anhydride. For 5-ml samples of urine, the lower detection limits for accurate quantitation were 50 ng ml-1 and 100 ng ml-1 for morphine and codeine, respectively. Both codeine and morphine were already detectable in urine 1 h after the intake of the analgesic preparation Perdolan. Codeine excretion and concentration peaked 2 h after administration of a dose. The percentage of the dose excreted as codeine was 3.0-6.2%. Administration of the antitussive preparation Bisolvon Griblettes resulted in detectable codeine and morphine levels for at least one day; 5.6-9% was excreted as total codeine over 24 h, the conjugated metabolite morphine accounting for 1.7-7.4% of the dose. Nearly the same amounts of codeine and morphine were excreted after administration of the antitussive syrup Bronchodine. The maximum excretion rate of codeine occurred after 1 h. Generally codeine and morphine remained detectable for 12 h. The results of these administration studies are discussed in relation to the codeine and morphine threshold levels recently introduced by the International Cyclist Union.