Being marketed as "legal" smoking blends or mixtures, synthetic cannabinoids are abused widely owing to its cannabis-like effect. Due to the rapid introduction of new generation analogues of synthetic cannabinoids to escape from legislative/judicial control, the investigation of the metabolic pathways of these substances is of particular importance for drug control, abstinence and forensic toxicology purposes. In this study, the in vitro metabolism of JWH-018, JWH-073 and AM2201 by the fungus Cunninghamella elagans has been investigated with the purpose of validating its potential as a complementary model for investigating synthetic cannabinoid metabolism. JWH-018, JWH-073 and AM2201 were incubated for 72h with C. elegans. Detection of metabolites was based on liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry and high resolution mass spectrometry analysis. C. elegans was found capable of producing the majority of the phase I metabolites observed in earlier in vitro and in vivo mammalian studies as a result of monohydroxylation, dihydroxylation, carboxylation, dehydrogenation, ketone formation, dihydrodiol formation, dihydrodiol formation with N-dealkylation and combinations thereof. C. elegans can thus be a useful and economic model for studying synthetic cannabinoid metabolism.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.forsciint.2015.12.023 | DOI Listing |
Molecules
January 2025
Laboratório de Química Orgânica e Farmacêutica, Departamento de Ciências Químicas, Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade do Porto, Rua Jorge Viterbo Ferreira, 228, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal.
New psychoactive substances (NPSs) emerged in the 2000s as legal alternatives to illicit drugs and quickly became a huge public health threat due to their easy accessibility online, limited information, and misleading labels. Synthetic cannabinoids and synthetic cathinones are the most reported groups of NPSs. Despite NPSs being widely studied, due to their structural diversity and the constant emergence of novel compounds with unknown properties, the development of new techniques is required to clarify their mode of action and evaluate their toxicological effects.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Mol Sci
January 2025
Department of Biotechnology, Chemistry and Pharmacy, University of Siena, Via Aldo Moro, 53100 Siena, Italy.
The sustainable utilization of biomass-derived bioactives addresses the growing demand for natural health products and supports sustainable development goals by reducing reliance on synthetic chemicals in healthcare. biomass, in particular, has emerged as a valuable resource within this context. This study focuses on the hydroethanolic extract of leaves (CSE), which exhibited significant levels of phenolic compounds contributing to robust antioxidant activity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSci Justice
January 2025
Leverhulme Research Centre for Forensic Science, School of Science and Engineering, University of Dundee, Nethergate, Dundee DD2 1HD, Scotland, UK.
The assessment of measurement uncertainty of an analytic method is a requirement for forensic toxicologists and drug chemists. There are two main methods for estimating measurement uncertainty: the bottom-up and the top-down approaches. The bottom-up approach has been suggested in current practice guides including 'Guide to the Expression of Uncertainty in Measurement (GUM)' published by ISO, and a guide to 'Quantifying Uncertainty in Analytical Measurement' published by EURACHEM.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCells
January 2025
Department of Biomedical & Molecular Sciences, Queen's University, Kingston, ON K7L 3N6, Canada.
Metastasizing cancer cells surreptitiously can adapt to metabolic activity during their invasion. By initiating their communications for invasion, cancer cells can reprogram their cellular activities to initiate their proliferation and migration and uniquely counteract metabolic stress during their progression. During this reprogramming process, cancer cells' metabolism and other cellular activities are integrated and mutually regulated by tunneling nanotube communications to alter their specific metabolic functional drivers of tumor growth and progression.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNat Rev Cardiol
January 2025
Stanford Cardiovascular Institute, Stanford, CA, USA.
Cannabis has been consumed for centuries, but global regulatory changes over the past three decades have increased the availability and consumption of cannabis. Cannabinoids are touted to have therapeutic potential for many diseases and could be a replacement for opioids for analgesia and sedation. However, cannabinoids can cause substantial adverse cardiovascular events that would mitigate any potential benefit.
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