Detection of Morphine in Urine by Hemagglutination Inhibition, with Use of

We describe a modified test of hemagglutination inhibition for the detection of morphine in urine, similar to the well-known test for pregnancy. The reaction takes place in test tubes or ampoules containing carefully matched amounts of lyophi-lized morphine antiserum and tanned human erythrocytes coated with morphine conjugated to rat serum albumin. The reagents are reconstituted by adding 100 L of urine and 400 pt of water, and the result is read after 60 mm. The detection limit, tested with the method of Gorodetzky (C/in Chem 19: 753, 1973), was about 200 ng of total morphine per milliliter of urine. For more than 2000 samples, results by our test agreed satisfactorily with those obtained by an accepted RIA method. The test is suitable for rapid screening in field work, monitoring subjects during detoxication, and use in nonspe-cialized laboratories. Confirmatory analysis is needed fo