[Presence of methadone in apocrine sweat of the human]

The presence of methadone was investigated in 24-h perspiration samples obtained from patients receiving daily maintenance doses of the drug. The samples were collected from the axillary region. The concentrations measured by radioimmunoassay ranged from 8.3 ng/cm2 per 24 h up to 25.3 ng/cm2 per 24 h. The concentrations determined by RIA are the sum of methadone and its metabolites. The presence of the drug in the perspiration samples were also revealed by GC/MS.