TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2018//
TI  - Fatality involving ocfentanil documented by identification of metabolites
JO  - Drug testing and analysis
A1  - Allibe, Nathalie
A1  - Richeval, Camille
A1  - Phanithavong, Mélodie
A1  - Faure, Amandine
A1  - Allorge, Delphine
A1  - Paysant, François
A1  - Stanke-Labesque, Françoise
A1  - Eysseric-Guerin, Hélène
A1  - Gaulier, Jean-Michel
SP  - 995
EP  - 1000
VL  - 10
IS  - 6
N2  - New psychoactive substances (NPS) use has rapidly increased over the last decade, and in the last 4 years producers increasingly appear to be targeting non-controlled synthetic opioids, involving fentanyl derivatives such as ocfentanil (OcF). Identification of metabolites is of major importance in the context of NPS use as it could improve detection window in biological matrices in clinical and forensic intoxication cases. Hence, this work aims to report a fatality involving OcF documented by the identification of metabolites. A 30-year-old woman was found dead at home: an unidentified powder was found near her body and some injection sites were found at the autopsy. Toxicological analyses allowed to determine the presence of OcF in the powder, blood (3.7/3.9 μg/L, peripheral/cardiac) and in other post-mortem samples. The most relevant potential CYP- and UGT-dependent metabolites of OcF were investigated in vitro using human liver microsome incubation and liquid chromatography coupled with high resolution mass spectrometry, and subsequently confirmed in post-mortem samples. Four OcF metabolites were produced in vitro (a mono-hydroxylated OcF, O-desmethylOcF, a hydroxylated desmethylOcF and a glucuronidated form of the O-desmethylOcF), and all except the glucuronide were observed in blood and bile post-mortem samples. Considering the relative intensity of the chromatographic peak areas, O-desmethylOcF can be suggested to be an abundant metabolite of OcF. Nevertheless, the relevance of O-desmethylOcF as being a complementary analytical target of OcF for OcF use detection needs further in vivo confirmation, especially through analysis of urines from users.<br><br>This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 1942-7603
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/dta.2326
ID  - ref1
ER  -