{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,22]],"date-time":"2026-09-22T08:41:01Z","timestamp":1790066461622,"version":"4.0.1"},"reference-count":39,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,1,6]],"date-time":"2023-01-06T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1672963200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Department for Antidrug Policies"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Metabolites"],"abstract":"<jats:p>\u03b1-MT is a hallucinogenic and stimulant tryptamine that was involved in several overdose fatalities in the United States and Europe. Analytical toxicology, and particularly the identification of metabolite biomarkers in biological samples, often is the only way to prove tryptamine use in clinical and forensic caseworks. We aimed to identify optimal \u03b1-MT metabolite biomarkers of consumption in humans. We identified \u03b1-MT metabolites in 10-donor-pooled human hepatocyte incubations and postmortem urine and blood from an \u03b1-MT overdose case using in silico metabolite predictions, liquid chromatography high-resolution-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS\/MS), and software-assisted data mining. Nine metabolites were identified in vitro and eight additional metabolites were found in urine; five metabolites were found in blood. Metabolic transformations were hydroxylation, O-sulfation, O-glucuronidation, N-glucuronidation, and N-acetylation, consistent with the metabolism of structural analogues. The findings in hepatocyte incubations and postmortem samples were consistent, proving the in vitro model suitability. We suggest \u03b1-MT, hydroxy-\u03b1-MT glucuronide, and two hydroxy-\u03b1-MT sulfates as biomarkers of \u03b1-MT use in non-hydrolyzed urine; we suggest \u03b1-MT, two hydroxy-\u03b1-MT sulfates and N-acetyl-\u03b1-MT as biomarkers of \u03b1-MT use in blood. Further studies on \u03b1-MT clinical and forensic caseworks with different doses and routes of administration are necessary to better explore \u03b1-MT metabolism.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/metabo13010092","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,1,6]],"date-time":"2023-01-06T03:19:54Z","timestamp":1672975194000},"page":"92","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":7,"title":["\u03b1-Methyltryptamine (\u03b1-MT) Metabolite Profiling in Human Hepatocyte Incubations and Postmortem Urine and Blood"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Sara","family":"Malaca","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Unit of Forensic Toxicology, Section of Legal Medicine, Department of Biomedical Sciences and Public Health, Marche Polytechnic University, Via Tronto 10\/a, 60126 Ancona, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4779-0666","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Charline","family":"Bottinelli","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"LAT LUMTOX Laboratory, 32 Rue du 35\u00e8me R\u00e9giment d\u2019Aviation, 69500 Bron, France"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Laurent","family":"Fanton","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Forensic Medicine, Edouard Herriot Hospital, Hospices Civils de Lyon, 5 Place d\u2019Arsonval, 69003 Lyon, France"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Nathalie","family":"Cartiser","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Forensic Medicine, Edouard Herriot Hospital, Hospices Civils de Lyon, 5 Place d\u2019Arsonval, 69003 Lyon, France"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3332-9518","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jeremy","family":"Carlier","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Unit of Forensic Toxicology, Section of Legal Medicine, Department of Biomedical Sciences and Public Health, Marche Polytechnic University, Via Tronto 10\/a, 60126 Ancona, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Francesco Paolo","family":"Busard\u00f2","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Unit of Forensic Toxicology, Section of Legal Medicine, Department of Biomedical Sciences and Public Health, Marche Polytechnic University, Via Tronto 10\/a, 60126 Ancona, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,1,6]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Malaca, S., Lo Faro, A.F., Tamborra, A., Pichini, S., Busard\u00f2, F.P., and Huestis, M.A. (2020). 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