Metabolic study of new psychoactive substance methoxpropamine in mice by UHPLC-QTOF-HRMS.
Marta Massano, Enrico Gerace, Martina Borsari, Matteo Marti, Micaela Tirri, Christina Ververi, Eugenio Alladio, Marco Vincenti, Alberto Salomone
Drug Testing and Analysis May 1, 2023 DOI: 10.1002/dta.3449 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Preclinical animal study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 16 |
| Population | Mice (eight male and eight female) |
| Intervention | Methoxpropamine (MXPr) |
| Dose | 1, 3, and 10 mg/kg |
| Duration | 6 hours of hourly urine collection, then 12- to 24-hour intervals; plasma collected 24 hours after administration |
| Keywords | Hrms Nps Metabolites Methoxpropamine Mice |
| Citations | 6 |
| Key points | Desmethyl-MXPr-glucuronide was identified as the main metabolite in urine, detectable up to 24 hours after administration, with norMXPr also relevant in urine, plasma, and fur. |
Abstract
Methoxpropamine (MXPr) is an arylcyclohexylamine dissociative drug structurally similar to 3-methoxyeticyclidine, ketamine, and deschloroketamine, recently appeared in the European illegal market, and was classified within the new psychoactive substances (NPS). Our study investigated the metabolism of MXPr to elucidate the distribution of the parent drug and its metabolites in body fluids and fur of 16 mice. After the intraperitoneal administration of MXPr (1, 3, and 10 mg/kg), urine samples from eight male and eight female mice were collected every hour for six consecutive hours and then at 12- to 24-h intervals. Additionally, plasma samples were collected 24 h after MXPr (1 and 3 mg/kg) administration. Urine and plasma were diluted 1:3 with acetonitrile/methanol (95:5) and directly injected into the UHPLC-QTOF-HRMS system. The phase-I and phase-II metabolites were preliminarily identified by means of the fragmentation patterns and the exact masses of both their precursor and fragment ions. Lastly, the mice fur was analyzed following an extraction procedure specific for the keratin matrix. Desmethyl-MXPr-glucoronide was identified in urine as the main metabolite, detected up to 24 h after administration. The presence of norMXPr in urine, plasma, and fur was also relevant, following a N-dealkylation process of the parent drug. Other metabolites that were identified in fur and plasma included desmethyl-MXPr and dihydro-MXPr. Knowledge of the MXPr metabolites evolution is likely to support their introduction as target compounds in NPS toxicological screening analysis on real samples, both to confirm intake and extend the detection window of the dissociative drug MXPr in the biological matrices.