3-MeO-PCP intoxication in two young men: First in vivo detection in Italy

- Concomitant intoxication by 3-MeO-PCP in two young men.
- Biological samples from a real case were screened by LC-MS/MS for “designer drugs”.
- 3-MeO-PCP was present in blood at 350.0 and 180.1 ng/mL (subject A and B).
- 3-MeO-PCP was present in urine at 6109.2 and 3003.5 ng/mL (subject A and B).
- In Italy, 3-MeO-PCP had never been reported before in real cases.

3-MeO-PCP or 3-methoxyphencyclidine is a derivative of phencyclidine. It acts as a dissociative anesthetic and it has allegedly hallucinogenic and sedative effects. There are almost no documented intoxication cases and references about its pharmacology and toxicity in literature. This study presents two concomitant intoxication cases due to consumption of 3-MeO-PCP and alcohol. A 19 (A) and a 21 years old (B) men were brought to Santa Maria Nuova Hospital in a comatose state (Glasgow score 3). They showed respiratory acidosis, right anisocoria with mydriatic pupils and hypothermia. Toxicological screening was negative. They were intubated for 7-8 h. Almost 24 h after hospitalization they were still in a delirious and agitated status. The subjects declared a high alcohol consumption and ingestion of unknown pills. Blood and urine were collected upon their arrival to the Emergency Department and sent to our Forensic Toxicology Division. Blood alcohol content was 2.0 g/L for subject A and 1,7 g/L for subject B. The specimens were analyzed by means of GC-MS, revealing the presence of 3-MeO-PCP. A confirmation and quantification was carried out by means of a new and fully validated liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method for new psychoactive substances (NPS) detection. The analysis was performed adding acetonitrile to the samples, the supernatant was dried and reconstituted with methanol. Mephedrone-D3 was used as internal standard. Acquisition was performed through multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) dynamic mode. The MRM transitions used for quantification of 3-MeO-PCP were: m/z 274 → 86, 121. 3-MeO-PCP was quantified in all the biological samples at the following concentrations: 350.0 (blood) and 6109.2 (urine) ng/mL for A; 180.1 (blood) and 3003.6 (urine) ng/mL for B. Taking into account the analytical results, we can suppose that the manifested symptoms were due to the consumption of 3-MeO-PCP in synergy with alcohol. Our report is the first case of 3-MeO-PCP intoxication in Italy and one of the few documented all over the world. For this reason, this case represents a significant worrisome alarm about the spread of this substance. Here we want to highlight the importance of having an effective and broad-spectrum analytical method in order to face the NPS issue.

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