title: Metabolism and toxicologic analysis of tryptamine-derived drugs of abuse.
abstract: 5-Methoxy-N,N-dialkyltryptamines are tryptamine derivatives that possess strong hallucinogenic effects. Because of their escalating popularity and potent physiological effects, an increasing number of acute poisoning cases have been reported in various countries. For their metabolism in humans, only a few studies have been reported. Thus, based on previous studies, the authors forecasted and synthesized authentic standards of their expected metabolites, which retained the structural characteristics of the parent drugs. Using these authentic standards, several urine specimens from abusers and rats were analyzed by gas chromatography mass spectrometry, high-performance liquid chromatography mass spectrometry, and high-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. The present study reveals that four metabolic pathways of great quantitative significance for 5-Methoxy-N,N-dialkyltryptamines to four characteristic metabolites, which retain structural characteristics identifiable with the parent compound, exist in humans and rats. The finding in the present study will be of great importance in the study on the metabolism of other psychotomimetic tryptamine-derived drugs of abuse and in forensic toxicologic analyses.
authors.affiliation: Osaka Prefectural Police Headquarters, Osaka, Japan. kataginohito@mth.biglobe.ne.jp
authors.forename: Munehiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Katagi
authors.forename: Tooru
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kamata
authors.forename: Kei
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Zaitsu
authors.forename: Noriaki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Shima
authors.forename: Hiroe
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kamata
authors.forename: Keiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nakanishi
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nishioka
authors.forename: Akihiro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Miki
authors.forename: Hitoshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tsuchihashi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods*; D006213:Hallucinogens / Q000032:analysis / Q000633:toxicity*; D006801:Humans; D013058:Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods; D051381:Rats; D021241:Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization; D015813:Substance Abuse Detection / Q000379:methods; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D053719:Tandem Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods; D014363:Tryptamines / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000633:toxicity
chemical_list: D006213:Hallucinogens; D014363:Tryptamines; C030820:tryptamine