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After administration to humans or animals, small-molecule drugs most frequently undergo several biochemical transformations by the endogenous enzymatic machinery, called phase I and phase II metabolism. These molecular processes allow organisms to eliminate xenobiotics through modification of their chemical properties and generate metabolites. With recent advances in analytical chemistry, LC-HRMS/MS has become an essential tool for metabolite discovery and detection. Even if most common drug transformations have already been extensively described, manual search of drug metabolites in LC-HRMS/MS datasets is still a common practice in toxicology laboratories, disabling efficient metabolite discovery. Furthermore, the availability of free open-source software for metabolite discovery is still limited. In this article, we present MetIDfyR, an open-source and cross-platform R package for in-silico drug phase I/II biotransformations prediction and mass-spectrometric data mining. MetIDfyR has proven efficacy for advanced metabolite identification in semi-complex and complex mixtures in in-vitro or in-vivo drug studies and is freely available at https://github.com/agnesblch/MetIDfyR. File list (2) download file view on ChemRxiv MetIDfyR_Manuscript.pdf (1.05 MiB) download file view on ChemRxiv MetIDfyR_smat.pdf (127.83 KiB)

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<div>After administration to humans or animals, small-molecule drugs most frequently undergo several biochemical transformations by the endogenous enzymatic machinery, called phase I and phase II metabolism. These molecular processes allow organisms to eliminate xenobiotics through modification of their chemical properties and generate metabolites. With recent advances in analytical chemistry, LC-HRMS/MS has become an essential tool for metabolite discovery and detection. Even if most common drug transformations have already been extensively described, manual search of drug metabolites in LC-HRMS/MS datasets is still a common practice in toxicology laboratories, disabling efficient metabolite discovery. Furthermore, the availability of free open-source software for metabolite discovery is still limited.</div><div><br> </div>In this article, we present MetIDfyR, an open-source and cross-platform R package for in-silico drug phase I/II biotransformations prediction and mass-spectrometric data mining. MetIDfyR has proven efficacy for advanced metabolite identification in semi-complex and complex mixtures in in-vitro or in-vivo drug studies and is freely available at https://github.com/agnesblch/MetIDfyR.<br>

According to international sport institutions, the use of peroxisome proliferator activated receptor (PPAR)-δ agonists is forbidden at any time in athlete career due to their capabilities to increase physical and endurance performances. The (PPAR)-δ agonist GW501516 is prohibited for sale but is easily available on internet and can be used by cheaters. In the context of doping control, urine is the preferred matrix because of the non-invasive nature of sampling and providing broader exposure detection times to forbidden molecules but often not detected under its native form due to the organism's metabolism. Even if urinary metabolism of G501516 has been extensively studied in human subjects, knowledge on GW501516 metabolism in horses remains limited. To fight against doping practices in horses' races, GW501516 metabolism has to be studied in horse urine to identify and characterize the most relevant target metabolites to ensure an efficient doping control. In this article, in vitro and in vivo experiments have been conducted using horse S9 liver microsome fractions and horse oral administration route, respectively. These investigations determined that the detection of GW501516 must be performed in urine on its metabolites because the parent molecule was extremely metabolized. To maximize analytical method sensitivity, the extraction conditions have been optimized. In accordance with these results, a qualitative analytical method was validated to detect the abuse of GW501516 based on its most relevant metabolites in urine. This work enabled the Laboratoire des Courses Hippiques (LCH) to highlight two cases of illicit administration of this forbidden molecule in post-race samples.

Ciclesonide (CIC) is the first inhaled highly potent corticosteroid that does not cause any cortisol suppression. It has been developed for the treatment of asthma in human and more recently in equine. CIC is the active compound of Aservo® EquiHaler® (Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica GmbH), the pre‐filled inhaler generating a medicated mist based on Soft Mist™ technology. This prodrug is rapidly converted to desisobutyryl‐ciclesonide (des‐CIC), the main pharmacologically active compound. Due to its anti‐inflammatory properties, CIC is prohibited for use in horse competitions. To set up an appropriate control, the determination of detection times and screening limits are required. Therefore, a highly sensitive analytical method based on supported liquid extraction (SLE) combined with liquid chromatography–high resolution tandem mass spectrometry (LC‐HRMS/MS) was developed to detect CIC and its active metabolite des‐CIC in plasma. The lower limit of detection of CIC and des‐CIC was approximately 1 pg/ml in plasma. After a pilot study conducted on a single horse at the recommended dose (eight actuations twice daily corresponding to 5.5 mg/day for the first 5 days, followed by 12 actuations once daily corresponding to 4.1 mg/day in the last 5 days), the same protocol was applied in the main study using six horses. In all horses, CIC and des‐CIC levels were less than 5 and 10 pg/ml, respectively, at 36 h after the end of the administration. The outcome of this risk assessment study should be useful to draw any recommendations for horse competitions.

<div>After administration to humans or animals, small-molecule drugs most frequently undergo several biochemical transformations by the endogenous enzymatic machinery, called phase I and phase II metabolism. These molecular processes allow organisms to eliminate xenobiotics through modification of their chemical properties and generate metabolites. With recent advances in analytical chemistry, LC-HRMS/MS has become an essential tool for metabolite discovery and detection. Even if most common drug transformations have already been extensively described, manual search of drug metabolites in LC-HRMS/MS datasets is still a common practice in toxicology laboratories, disabling efficient metabolite discovery. Furthermore, the availability of free open-source software for metabolite discovery is still limited.</div><div><br> </div>In this article, we present MetIDfyR, an open-source and cross-platform R package for in-silico drug phase I/II biotransformations prediction and mass-spectrometric data mining. MetIDfyR has proven efficacy for advanced metabolite identification in semi-complex and complex mixtures in in-vitro or in-vivo drug studies and is freely available at https://github.com/agnesblch/MetIDfyR.<br>

Kavain is a natural product contained in the root of the medicinal plant Piper methysticum. This root is mostly consumed as a beverage called "kava" in the South Pacific islands. 1 More than a ritual drink, kava is used in traditional medicine at a low intake for its relaxing properties, to reduce anxiety disorders and heal urinary tract infections. One of