Affiliation:
1. National Centre on Addiction and Doping, National Institute of Health, 00161 Rome, Italy
2. Department of Biomedical Sciences and Public Health, University “Politecnica delle Marche”, 60126 Ancona, Italy
Abstract
In 2023, hexahydrocannabinol (HHC) attracted the attention of international agencies due to its rapid spread in the illegal market. Although it was discovered in 1940, less is known about the pharmacology of its two naturally occurring epimers, 9(R)-HHC and 9(S)-HHC. Thus, we aimed to investigate the disposition of hexahydrocannabinol epimers and their metabolites in whole blood, urine and oral fluid following a single controlled administration of a 50:50 mixture of 9(R)-HHC and 9(S)-HHC smoked with tobacco. To this end, six non-user volunteers smoked 25 mg of the HHC mixture in 500 mg of tobacco. Blood and oral fluid were sampled at different time points up to 3 h after the intake, while urine was collected between 0 and 2 h and between 2 and 6 h. The samples were analyzed with a validated HPLC-MS/MS method to quantify 9(R)-HHC, 9(S)-HHC and eight metabolites. 9(R)-HHC showed the highest Cmax and AUC0–3h in all the investigated matrices, with an average concentration 3-fold higher than that of 9(S)-HHC. In oral fluid, no metabolites were detected, while they were observed as glucuronides in urine and blood, but with different profiles. Indeed, 11nor-9(R)-HHC was the most abundant metabolite in blood, while 8(R)OH-9(R) HHC was the most prevalent in urine. Interestingly, 11nor 9(S) COOH HHC was detected only in blood, whereas 8(S)OH-9(S) HHC was detected only in urine.
Funder
Presidency of the Ministers Council, Department of Antidrug Policy
Reference18 articles.
1. (2023, June 01). EMCDDA New Psychoactive Substances–the Current Situation in Europe (European Drug Report 2023). Available online: https://www.emcdda.europa.eu/publications/european-drug-report/2023/new-psychoactive-substances_en#level-3-section1.
2. EMCDDA (2023). The Drug Situation in Europe Up to 2023-an Overview and Assessment of Emerging Threats and New Developments (European Drug Report 2023), EMCDDA.
3. DARK Classics in Chemical Neuroscience: Synthetic Cannabinoids (Spice/K2);Worob;ACS Chem. Neurosci.,2019
4. EMCDDA Framework and Practical Guidance for Naming Synthetic Cannabinoids;Pulver;Drug Test Anal.,2023
5. Ujváry, I. (2023). Hexahydrocannabinol and Closely Related Semi-Synthetic Cannabinoids: A Comprehensive Review. Drug Test Anal.
Cited by
2 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献