Metabolite Identification
Research Summary
Novel Psychoactive Substances (NPS) have been increasingly abused in the US, and a constantly changing market requires continued research, including the investigation into the metabolic pathways of these newly emerging drugs. Although there is some research available concerning the metabolism of certain NPS, many of these new drugs continue to be introduced and popularized as recreational drugs and have unstudied metabolic pathways. This remains an important area of research, as metabolic markers are used in toxicology to determine past use of a drug.
Previous research on these compounds has primarily been done in animal models and in vitro studies using human liver microsomes (HLMs), as these substances are schedule I and human dosing experiments are not able to be performed. This study is looking at HLM incubations as well as authentic blood, urine and oral fluid specimens looking for unique biological markers to indicate past use of these NPS. The compounds that have been investigated so far at the center included: alpha-pyrrolindinopentiophenone, methylone, dimethylone and a variety of NBOMes (25I, 25C, 25B and 25H).
This research provides an amazing opportunity for the students of the graduate programs affiliated with the Center for Forensic Science Research and Education hands on experience performing in vitro metabolism. The students will also be able to use state of the art instrumentation for the investigation of the unknown metabolites.
Publications and Presentations
Metabolic Profile Determination of NBOMe Compounds Using Human Liver Microsomes
Keith-Dane H. Temporal, Melissa Friscia, Karen S. Scott, Amanda L.A. Mohr, Barry K. Logan, AAFS, Platform Presentation, February 2016
Metabolic Profile Determination of Novel Psychoactive Substances using Human Liver Microsomes
Sarah Wolf, Amanda Mohr, M.S, Karen Scott, Sean Yu, AAFS, Poster Presentation, Februrary 2015
Identification of Major Metabolites in Human Blood and Urine associated with the Ingestion of Alpha PVP
Melissa Friscia, Sarah Wolf, Amanda LA Mohr, Francis X. Diamond, Jillian K Yeakel, Barry K. Logan, AAFS, Platform Presentation, February 2015
