Metabolism study of two phenethylamine - derived new psychoactive substances using in silico, in vivo, and in vitro approaches.
Archives of toxicology March 10, 2025 Yiling Tang, Linhao Xu, Zhenshuo Guo et al. 1 citation
Proscaline and methallylescaline are two phenylethylamine derivatives of the classic hallucinogen mescaline, classified as new psychoactive substances (NPS) not controlled by international drug conventions. Limited toxicity information has hindered their identification. Using high-resolution mass spectrometry with three complementary models—computational prediction, zebrafish (in vivo), and human liver microsomes (in vitro)—the study identified 7 proscaline metabolites and 11 methallylescaline metabolites for the first time. Hydroxylated and N-acetylated products were the major metabolites, enabling their selection as biomarkers for detecting intake of these two NPS over a relatively wide detection window.