The Daily Bulletin Archive

Please join the Chemistry and Physics departments for the seminar "GC-MS Toxicological Investigation of  the Designer Drug 3,4-methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV)," presented by Courtney Whetstine, candidate for the master of science degree in forensic science at Buffalo State, on Thursday, October 26, from 12:15 to 1:30 p.m. in Science and Math Complex 169. All students, faculty, and staff are welcome.

Abstract
3,4–methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV) is a synthetic cathinone, an analog of a-pyrrolidinophenones, that has become popular as a designer psychostimulant. Synthetic cathinones and their derivatives are commonly abused as “bath salts” and classed as a schedule I drug in 2011 because of it effects. MDPV is a newer class of psychostimulants, which biochemically change into different metabolites within the human body. This makes MDPV-related intoxication difficult to analyze in bodily fluids.

During the years 2014–2016, a comprehensive collection of 23 cases of MDPV related intoxications were successfully  analyzed in urine and blood samples by Lower Saxony police department in Germany. One of the challenges faced in the MDPV-related intoxications was the presence of other psychoactive drugs consumed along with MDPV, such as opiates, cannabinoids, and cocaine; however, the authors in this paper were able to deconvolute the presence of MDPV and other co-administered drugs using gas chromatograph-mass spectrometry techniques. They were able to quantify MDPV serum concentration ranged from <10 ng/mL up to 576 ng/mL. Intoxication cases indicate that the recreational use of MDPV may be fatal depending on overdosing and combination with other psychoactive drugs. The increasing frequency in the abuse of MDPV highlights the need for analytical methods other than GC-MS for the detection and quantification of MDPV.