Determination of the main metabolic pathways of the recently abused synthetic cannabinoids and investigation of the relationship between pharmacokinetics and their chemical structures

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25893089
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: Legal medicine
• Research Institution: Nagoya University
• Principal Investigator: ZAITSU Kei 名古屋大学, 医学(系)研究科(研究院), 准教授 (30700546)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-08-30 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 法中毒 / 分析化学 / 質量分析

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this study, the main metabolic pathways of synthetic cannabinoids, which sometimes cause acute intoxication cases, in rats and humans have been demonstrated. In both rats and humans, the main metabolic pathway of MAM-2201 is defluorination, followed by oxidation. In addition, postmortem redistribution of MAM2201, which may be due to its high lipophilicity, was observed in human cases. The determined metabolic pathways of MAM2201 in rats are almost similar to those in humans. Also, this study have revealed that slight modification in some moieties of synthetic cannabinoids causes different pharmacokinetic profile. Also, synthetic cannabinoids can cause endogenous metabolites in central nervous system and peripheral part, suggesting that it may be one of the causes of acute intoxication of synthetic cannabinoids.

Free Research Field

法中毒学