medetomidine

Also known as (+-)-4-(alpha,2,3-trimethylbenzyl)imidazole

Medetomidine is a veterinary anesthetic medication with potent sedative effects. , it is an emerging illicit drug adulterant.

Key facts

Drug.image: Medetomidine.svg
Drug.image_class: skin-invert-image
Drug.chirality: Racemic mixture
Drug.tradename: Domitor, others
Drug.DailyMedID: Medetomidine
Drug.class: Alpha-2 adrenergic receptor agonist
Drug.ATCvet: yes
Drug.ATC_prefix: N05
Drug.ATC_suffix: CM91
Drug.legal_CA: Rx-only
Drug.legal_US: Rx-only
Drug.CAS_number: 86347-14-0
Drug.PubChem: 68602
Drug.DrugBank: DB00633
Drug.ChemSpiderID: 61868
Drug.UNII: MR15E85MQM
Drug.KEGG: D08165
Drug.KEGG2: D04883

via Wikipedia infobox

Research

1,989 papers

Classics in Chemical Neuroscience: Medetomidine.ACS chemical neuroscience · 2024
Rise of illicit medetomidine use: A worrisome trend.The American journal on addictions · 2025
Medetomidine--a novel alpha 2-adrenoceptor agonist: a review of its pharmacodynamic effects.Progress in neuro-psychopharmacology & biological psychiatry · 1989
Medetomidine sedation in dogs and cats: a review of its pharmacology, antagonism and dose.The British veterinary journal · 1996
The clinical efficacy of medetomidine.Acta veterinaria Scandinavica. Supplementum · 1989

via PubMed

~4 min read

Encyclopedic overview

9 sections

Contents

History
Pharmacology
Veterinary use
Side effects
Use in marine paint
Illicit use in humans
Component of street drugs
References
Further reading

Medetomidine is a veterinary anesthetic medication with potent sedative effects. , it is an emerging illicit drug adulterant.

It is a racemic mixture of two stereoisomers, levomedetomidine and dexmedetomidine, the latter being the isomer with the pharmacologic effect as an alpha 2- adrenergic agonist. Effects can be reversed using atipamezole.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “medetomidine” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

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