Mephedrone: a single-dose administration study to determine human pharmacokinetics after nasal insufflation and to detect mephedrone and its metabolit

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Mephedrone is the most widely used new psychoactive substance ("legal high") in the UK. It is a synthetic cathinone that was classified in the UK as a Class B drug in 2010.Despite its popularity there is very little human data on the pharmacokinetics of mephedrone. Most of the available data comes from animal models and biological sample analysis from individuals presenting to hospital with acute mephedrone toxicity. We plan to conduct a human administration study involving nasal insufflation of 100 mg of pure mephedrone by healthy male volunteers. Conventional samples (blood, urine, hair) as well as alternative biological matrices (oral fluid, breath, dried blood spots, head sweat, fingermark deposit) will be collected at specific time points and analysed for mephedrone and its metabolites. The alternative biological matrices are of interest as they require less stringent storage than blood/urine and can be easier to collect in non-specialist settings like drug treatment centres and in roadside drug testing. Sample preparation and extraction methods will be developed and validated. LC MS/MS will be used to quantify the presence of target analytes.There has only been one human volunteer study (Papaseit et al.) involving oral mephedrone administration. This study has several limitations: mephedrone was obtained from police seizures and sample purity was not assessed; only blood and urine samples were collected and mephedrone metabolites were not determined; and mephedrone was given orally rather than by nasal insufflation.The project will benefit our Industrial CASE Partner, Alere Toxicology, as it will enable them to incorporate validated assays into their business. At the same time, the study will better inform doctors in treating patients with mephedrone related problems and will also be of value in evidential analysis. Potential applications include testing of those in custody/prisons, testing related to crime and in workplace/roadside drug testing.