ABSTRACT:The involvement of human hepatic cytochrome P450 (P450) isoenzymes in the metabolism of the new designer drug 4-methyl-␣-pyrrolidinobutyrophenone (MPBP) to 4-(hydroxymethyl)-␣-pyrrolidinobutyrophenone (HO-MPBP) was studied using insect cell microsomes with cDNA-expressed human P450s and human liver microsomes (HLM). Incubation samples were analyzed by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. Only CYP2D6, CYP2C19, and CYP1A2 were capable of catalyzing MPBP 4-hydroxylation. According to the relative activity factor approach, these enzymes accounted for 54, 30, and 16% of net clearance. At 1 M MPBP, the chemical inhibitors quinidine (CYP2D6), fluconazole (CYP2C19), and ␣-naphthoflavone (CYP1A2) reduced metabolite formation in pooled HLM by 83, 53, and 47%, respectively, and at 50 M MPBP by 41, 47, and 45%, respectively. In experiments with HLM from CYP2D6 and CYP2C19 poor metabolizers, HO-MPBP formation was found to be 78 and 79% lower in comparison with pooled HLM, respectively. From these data, it can be concluded that polymorphically expressed CYP2D6 is mainly responsible for MPBP hydroxylation.The cytochrome P450 (P450) family accounts for more than 90% of oxidative metabolic reactions of xenobiotics (Guengerich, 2005). The involvement of particular P450 enzymes in the biotransformation of a new chemical entity is usually thoroughly investigated before it can be marketed in order to assess the risk of increased side effects in poor metabolizer subjects and of drug-drug or drug-food interactions. However, such data are typically acquired for substances intended for therapeutic use, not for drugs of the illicit market.1-(4-Methylphenyl)-2-pyrrolidin-1-ylbutan-1-one [4Ј-methyl-␣-pyrrolidinobutyrophenone (MPBP)] is a new designer drug of the pyrrolidinophenone type. Together with 4Ј-methyl-␣-pyrrolidinobutyrophenone (Roesner et al., 1999;Springer et al., 2003c), 4Ј-methyl-␣-pyrrolidinopropiophenone (MPPP) (Roesner et al., 1999;Springer et al., 2002;Springer et al., 2003c) However, they may be expected to be very similar to those of pyrovalerone (4Ј-methyl-␣-pyrrolidinovalerophenone) due to their close structural relation to this drug. Pyrovalerone is a psychostimulant that acts by releasing dopamine and norepinephrine from the respective nerve terminals (Fauquet et al., 1976;Servin et al., 1978) and inhibits the reuptake of these neurotransmitters (Meltzer et al., 2006). The latter was also shown for PVP. In comparison with amphetamine, pyrovalerone reportedly has similar psychostimulant effects but less influence on motor function in animals and humans (Stille et al., 1963;Holliday et al., 1964;Heimann and Lukacs, 1965). Pyrovalerone had been studied as a therapeutic drug (Heinmann and Vetter, 1965;Goldberg et al., 1973;Soderholm et al., 1976) but was withdrawn from the market and scheduled as a controlled substance after reports of its intravenous abuse (Deniker et al., 1975). A similar pharmacological profile of the pyrrolidinophenones would clearly be in line with their abuse as stimulant designer drug...