Devault Damien Alain, Peyré Alexandre, Gish Alexandr, Richeval Camille, Pleignet Eric, Cottereau Victoire, Gaulier Jean-Michel
Université de Mayotte, 8 Rue de L'Université, Iloni BP 53, 97660 Dembeni Mayotte, Dembeni, France.
Addictovigilance Centre, Department of Pharmacology, CEIP-A de Bordeaux, Bordeaux University Hospital, Bordeaux, France.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2025 Jul 12. doi: 10.1007/s11356-025-36689-6.
The increasing threat posed by illicit drugs to health and environment must now be monitored with new tools. Among them, wastewater-based epidemiology is one of the most promising but needs to know the metabolization of drug molecules, e.g., using in vitro studies. While this step is ancient history for illicit drugs that have been around for decades, such as cocaine, heroin and stimulants, it is still relevant, for example, for synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonists. In the present study, authors will interpret the metabolites of CH-PIATA, one of the more common synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonists, exposed to human liver microsomes, which are now reliable tools for in vitro studies of xenobiotic metabolism. A field study was carried out on the island of Mayotte, a French overseas territory located in the Mozambique Channel, where consumption of synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonists has reached an emblematic level. Samples were collected from users by individual solicitation and a structured interview was proposed. Analyses were performed by liquid chromatography coupled with high-resolution mass spectrometry, and metabolism studies were carried out in vitro using human liver microsomes. In addition, as its metabolization can be affected by co-formulates, authors inventoried the molecules observed in the same samples (cigarette or powder). Exposition to CH-PIATA involves hepatic metabolization which is elucidated in the present article, compared to literature, and the metabolites expected to be pertinent drug target residues are selected. It can be expected that one of the predominant hydroxylated metabolites (M03-HMRS target must be [M + H +] m/z 343.2380) found will be the most abundant metabolite in wastewater. With regard to users' social relationships, data from a questionnaire were designed to determine whether consumers' standard of living can affect the representativeness of such monitoring.
