Laboratorio Antidoping, FMSI, Rome, Italy.
Department of Health Care Surveillance and Bioethics, Section of Legal Medicine, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy.
Drug Test Anal. 2022 Feb;14(2):269-276. doi: 10.1002/dta.3179. Epub 2021 Nov 8.
Mexedrone is a synthetic cathinone structurally related to mephedrone, which belongs to the class of N-alkyl cathinone derivatives, whose metabolic profile has not been fully clarified yet. This study considers the in vitro phase I metabolism of mexedrone, to pre-select the most appropriate marker(s) of intake. Mexedrone was incubated in the presence of either human liver microsomes or single recombinant CYP450 isoforms. The metabolic profile was outlined by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to both high- and low-resolution mass spectrometry. In detail, the phase I metabolic profile of mexedrone was initially defined by a time-of-flight analyzer, while the chemical structures of the detected metabolites and the potential presence of minor metabolites were subsequently studied by tandem mass spectrometry, using a triple quadrupole analyzer. The main phase I metabolic reactions were hydroxylation and N- and O-dealkylation. The CYP450 isoforms most involved were CYP2C19, responsible for the formation of both hydroxylated and dealkylated metabolites, followed by CYP2D6 and CYP1A2, involved in the hydroxylation reactions only. Finally, a significant fraction of mexedrone unchanged was also detected. Based on this evidence, the most appropriate markers of intake are mexedrone unchanged and the hydroxylated metabolites.
甲卡西酮是一种与甲卡西酮结构相关的合成卡西酮,属于 N-烷基卡西酮衍生物类,其代谢特征尚未完全阐明。本研究考虑了甲卡西酮的体外 I 相代谢,以预先选择最适合的摄入标志物。甲卡西酮在人肝微粒体或单一重组 CYP450 同工酶存在的情况下进行孵育。通过超高效液相色谱与高分辨率和低分辨率质谱联用,概述了其代谢特征。详细来说,通过飞行时间分析仪初步确定了甲卡西酮的 I 相代谢特征,然后使用串联质谱法(三重四极杆分析仪)研究了检测到的代谢物的化学结构和潜在的少量代谢物的存在情况。主要的 I 相代谢反应是羟化和 N-和 O-脱烷基化。涉及的 CYP450 同工酶主要是 CYP2C19,负责形成羟化和脱烷基化代谢物,其次是 CYP2D6 和 CYP1A2,仅参与羟化反应。最后,还检测到大量未发生变化的甲卡西酮。基于这些证据,最适合的摄入标志物是未发生变化的甲卡西酮和羟化代谢物。
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