Tetrahydrocannabinolic acid (THCA, or THC in the decarboxylated form), synthesized by cannabis plant ( L.), is a cannabinoid that can be used as a therapeutic drug but is a dangerous psychoactive compound. Cannabis grown for industrial fiber hemp must contain little THCA to prevent misuse. Many attempts to develop new cultivars with low THCA contents have therefore been made. It is time-consuming and expensive to determine THCA in cannabis plant tissues by high-performance liquid chromatography, so we attempted to develop a simple and quick method for selected cultivars with low THCA contents. The diagnostic device, which is an immunoassay based on the principle of competitive binding of drug metabolites, was initially developed for human drug testing in urine. We aim to determine whether the diagnostic device can be applied to natural cannabinoids from cannabis plant. The devices were not suitable for aqueous extracts with methanol contents >20 %. The test (T) line on each device was less intense for leaf and flower extracts than the negative control (water). The THCA contents of water extracted leaves determined by HPLC and calculated based on the cannabidiolic acid contents were 7.5 and 15 μg mL for SuperwomanS1 and Spectrum303 cultivars, respectively. When THCA and THC standards were loaded onto Abon devices, the T line disappeared at the THCA concentration 20 μg mL and the THC concentration 1 μg mL, respectively. Using extracts of 0.2 g fresh leaves, SuperwomanS1 and Spectrum303 will give faint and strong T lines, respectively, indicating that the devices could be used to test cannabis tissue THCA contents against the international regulatory limit (≤ 0.3 % w/w). The results indicated that the THCA contents of cannabis tissues at the flowering stage can readily be estimated using drug diagnostic devices, making it convenient for cannabis growers and breeders to semi-quantify THCA.

中文翻译：

---

利用尿液药物诊断装置检测大麻组织中四氢大麻酚酸和四氢大麻酚的简单方法


四氢大麻酚酸（THCA，或脱羧形式的 THC）由大麻植物 (L.) 合成，是一种大麻素，可用作治疗药物，但也是一种危险的精神活性化合物。用于工业纤维大麻种植的大麻必须含有很少的 THCA 以防止滥用。因此，人们进行了许多尝试来开发低 THCA 含量的新品种。通过高效液相色谱法测定大麻植物组织中的 THCA 既耗时又昂贵，因此我们尝试开发一种简单、快速的方法来筛选低 THCA 含量的品种。该诊断装置是一种基于药物代谢物竞争性结合原理的免疫测定法，最初是为人体尿液中的药物检测而开发的。我们的目的是确定该诊断装置是否可以应用于大麻植物中的天然大麻素。该设备不适用于甲醇含量>20% 的水萃取物。每个设备上的测试 (T) 线对于叶和花提取物的强度不如阴性对照（水）。 SuperwomanS1和Spectrum303品种的水提取叶的THCA含量经HPLC测定并根据大麻二酚酸含量计算，分别为7.5和15μgmL。当THCA和THC标准品加载到Abon装置上时，T线分别在THCA浓度20μgmL和THC浓度1μgmL时消失。使用 0.2 克新鲜叶子的提取物，SuperwomanS1 和 Spectrum303 将分别给出微弱和强烈的 T 线，表明这些设备可用于测试大麻组织 THCA 含量是否符合国际监管限值（≤ 0.3% w/w）。 结果表明，使用药物诊断设备可以很容易地估计开花期大麻组织中的 THCA 含量，从而方便大麻种植者和育种者对 THCA 进行半定量。