A study of the metabolism of methamphetamine and 4-bromo-2,5-dimethoxyphenethylamine (2C-B) in isolated rat hepatocytes.
Forensic science international March 10, 2005 T Kanamori, K Tsujikawa, Y Ohmae et al.
The metabolism of methamphetamine (MA) and 4-bromo-2,5-dimethoxyphenethylamine (2C-B) was examined in freshly isolated rat hepatocytes and compared with in vivo results. For MA, the major metabolite was p-hydroxymethamphetamine, matching the urinary excretion profile in rats fed MA. For 2C-B, the major metabolites were 2-O-desmethyl-2C-B and a carboxylic acid derivative, a slight deviation from in vivo findings where 5-O-desmethyl-N-acetyl-2C-B predominated. Metabolites with a hydroxy group were largely conjugated, except for 2-O-desmethyl-2C-B. The primary hepatocyte culture system shows potential as a quick method for estimating the in vivo metabolic fate of abused drugs.