Laboratoire de Toxicologie, Fédération de Toxicologie, AH-HP, Hôpital Lariboisière, 75010 Paris, France.
INSERM UMRS-1144, Université Paris Cité, 75006 Paris, France.
J Am Soc Mass Spectrom. 2024 Oct 2;35(10):2276-2287. doi: 10.1021/jasms.4c00009. Epub 2024 Aug 26.
The comprehensive detection of new psychoactive substances, including synthetic cannabinoids along with their associated metabolites in biological samples, remains an analytical challenge. To detect these chemicals, untargeted approaches using appropriate bioinformatic tools such as molecular networks are useful, albeit it necessitates as a prerequisite the identification of a node of interest within the cluster. To illustrate it, we reported in this study the identification of synthetic cannabinoids and some of their metabolites in seized e-liquid, urine, and hair collected from an 18-year-old poisoned patient hospitalized for neuropsychiatric disorders. A comprehensive analysis of the seized e-liquid was performed using gas chromatography coupled with electron ionization mass spectrometry, H NMR, and liquid chromatography coupled with high resolution tandem mass spectrometry combined with data processing based on molecular network strategy. It allowed researchers to detect in the e-liquid known synthetic cannabinoids including MDMB-4en-PINACA, EDMB-4en-PINACA, MMB-4en-PINACA, and MDMB-5F-PICA. Compounds corresponding to transesterification of MDMB-4en-PINACA with pentenol, glycerol, and propylene glycol were also identified. Regarding the urine sample of the patient, metabolites of MDMB-4en-PINACA were detected, including MDMB-4en-PINACA butanoic acid, dihydroxylated MDMB-4en-PINACA butanoic acid, and glucurono-conjugated MDMB-4en-PINACA butanoic acid. Hair analysis of the patient allowed the detection of MDMB-4en-PINACA and MDMB-5F-PICA in the two investigated hair segments. This untargeted analysis of seized materials and biological samples demonstrates the utility of the molecular network strategy in identifying closely related compounds and metabolites of synthetic cannabinoids. It also emphasizes the need for developing strategies to anchor molecular networks, especially for new psychoactive substances.
对新精神活性物质（包括合成大麻素及其相关代谢物）进行全面检测仍然是一项分析挑战。为了检测这些化学物质，使用适当的生物信息学工具（如分子网络）进行非靶向方法是有用的，尽管这需要作为前提条件，即在聚类中确定感兴趣的节点。为了说明这一点，我们在这项研究中报告了在从因神经精神障碍住院的 18 岁中毒患者缴获的电子烟液、尿液和头发中检测到合成大麻素及其一些代谢物。使用气相色谱法与电子电离质谱、H NMR 和液相色谱法与高分辨串联质谱法对缴获的电子烟液进行了全面分析，并结合基于分子网络策略的数据处理进行分析。它使研究人员能够在电子烟液中检测到已知的合成大麻素，包括 MDMB-4en-PINACA、EDMB-4en-PINACA、MMB-4en-PINACA 和 MDMB-5F-PICA。还鉴定了与 MDMB-4en-PINACA 与戊烯醇、甘油和丙二醇进行酯交换的化合物。关于患者的尿液样本，检测到了 MDMB-4en-PINACA 的代谢物，包括 MDMB-4en-PINACA 丁酸、二羟基化 MDMB-4en-PINACA 丁酸和葡萄糖醛酸结合的 MDMB-4en-PINACA 丁酸。对患者头发的分析允许在两个研究的头发段中检测到 MDMB-4en-PINACA 和 MDMB-5F-PICA。对缴获材料和生物样本的非靶向分析证明了分子网络策略在识别合成大麻素的密切相关化合物和代谢物方面的效用。它还强调了需要开发策略来固定分子网络，特别是对于新的精神活性物质。
