Determination of 3-MeO-PCP in human blood and urine in a fatal intoxication case,with a specific focus on metabolites identification

3-Methoxyphencyclidine(3-MeO-PCP)is a new psychoactive substance that belongs to the phencyclidines family,first identified in Europe in 2012.This drug presents a stronger binding to N-methyl-D-aspartate(NMDA)receptors when compared to phencyclidine,which results in more potent effects,even at low concentrations.Very few articles have been published regarding 3-MeO-PCP in forensic toxicology.In this paper,the authors present a fatal 3-MeO-PCP intoxication case.In addition to the detection of the parent drug,metabolites were investigated in urine and,for the first time in the scientific literature,in blood.3-MeO-PCP and its metabolites were quantitated by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry system(LC-MS/MS).Identification was confirmed by liquid chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry(LC-HRMS).3-MeO-PCP tested positive in femoral blood(3525 ng/mL)and urine(7384 ng/mL).The femoral blood concentration was higher than the fatal concentrations range already reported in the literature(from 50 to 3200 ng/mL).3-MeO-PCP metabolites,including O-demethyl-3-MeO-PCP,piperidine-OH-3-MeO-PCP,O-demethyl-piperidine-di-OH-3-MeO-PCP and piperidine-di-OH-3-MeO-PCP,were detected in blood.In addition,two new metabolites,O-demethyl-piperidine-OH-3-MeO-PCP and O-demethyl-cyclohexyl-OH,were identified in both blood and urine.Unfortunately,due to the lack of reference material on the market,it was not possible to measure the concentration of these metabolites.However,the ratios between the metabolites and the parent drug were useful to estimate their analytical response and prevalence.At this time,considering the low ratios(<1)between metabolites and parent drug,metabolites testing does not seem useful to increase the detection window of the drug.

Identification of adrafinil and its main metabolite modafinil in human hair.Self-administration study and interpretation of an authentic case

For several years,the misuse of stimulant substances is increasingly observed both in the field of sport,to improve the functions of the body and therefore to be more performant,and also by non-athletes to make life more tolerable on a daily basis.Adrafinil,2-((diphenylmethyl)sulfinyl)-N-hydroxyacetamide,is a drug designed for the treatment of narcolepsy by promoting an awakened state,and to treat alertness and neurological symptoms in the elderly.It is primarily metabolized in vivo to an active form,i.e.modafinil,2-((diphenylmethyl)sulfinyl)acetamide.The World Anti-Doping Agency(WADA)banned these two drugs in sports in 2004.The authors report an authentic case involving adrafinil and modafinil.The laboratory was requested to test for adrafinil in a hair strand collected from a woman found in posses-sion of vials of adrafinil and suspected of trafficking.A specific method was developed by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry(LC-MS/MS).Unlike modafinil(varying from 6.8 to 13.9ng/mg),adrafinil was not identified in the strand.The interpretation of the results was difficult because this is the first case describing human hair analysis.In order to be able to interpret the results,a self-administration study was conducted after an oral administration to a volunteer(200 mg)whose beard hair was collected 10days after adminis-tration.The analysis of this specimen highlighted the presence of adrafinil at 0.8ng/mg and modafinil at 0.5 ng/mg.These results demonstrate the dual identification of both compounds after a single consumption,even after administration of a low dose.According to these results,the analysis of the hair strand from the authentic case does not match with a con-sumption of adrafinil,in accordance with abuse of modafinil alone.Intelligence considered that this was a trafficking case of adrafinil,with no self-consumption.