page_title: 4-Methylthioamphetamine
section_title: Metabolism
hierarchical_section_title: 4-Methylthioamphetamine / Metabolism
caption_attribution_description: English: How 4-MTA is metabolized by rats
context_page_description: 4-Methylthioamphetamine is a designer drug of the substituted amphetamine class developed in the 1990s by a team led by David E. Nichols, an American pharmacologist and medical chemist, at Purdue University. It acts as a non-neurotoxic highly selective serotonin releasing agent in animals. 4-MTA is the methylthio derivative of amphetamine.
context_section_description: 4-MTA undergoes limited biotransformation, the metabolic pathways of the metabolites in humans is postulated in the following steps:
  β-Hydroxylation of the side chain to 4-hydroxy-4-methyltioaphetamine (step I).
  Ring hydroxylation to a phenolic structure (step II).
  Oxidative deamination to form an oxo metabolite, followed by (step III):
  reduction into the corresponding alcohol (step IIIa),
  degradation of the side chain to 4-methylthiobenzoic acid (step IIIb).
  The main metabolite was identified as 4-methylthiobenzoic acid. This compound leads to bioactivation (toxification), since the metabolite increases dramatically the sensitivity to the reduction in ATP content. The biotransformation shows great similarities to the metabolic pathway of the structurally related 4-methoxyamphetamine
caption: How 4-MTA is metabolized by rats
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