Comparasion of concentration of drugs of forensic interest in different post-mortem matrices

• Grant number: 12/24383-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate (Direct)
• Start date: June 01, 2013
• End date: September 30, 2013
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Pharmacy - Toxicological Analysis
• Principal Investigator: Bruno Spinosa de Martinis
• Grantee: Mariana Dadalto Peres
• Supervisor: Vigdis Vindenes
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto (FFCLRP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH), Norway
• Associated to the scholarship: 10/05978-0 - Vitreos humor: an alternative for investigation of drugs of abuse post-mortem, BP.DD

Abstract

In autopsy cases, it is essential to be able to determine whether the deceased had drugs in their body before the time of death, which may have implications to the cause of death or to the chain of events leading up to death (including drug influence, medication errors etc.). Quantifying drugs in samples collected from the deceased is therefore essential to be able to determine whether the concentrations may have contributed to a fatal poisoning, or whether they are consistent with therapeutic use (1-4). In some cases, it is not be possible to collect blood samples, due to the degree of decay, the victims being burned, large blood losses/injuries, embalmed corpses etc. In such cases, other media available are usually collected, but because of the limited amount/completely lacking literature comparing concentrations measured in the different media, as sampled from the same subject, interpreting such results is difficult. Analysis of drug concentrations in alternative media may contribute to a better understanding of which concentrations were present in the deceased before death. However the interpretation is difficult, since for the majority of drugs there is knowledge lacking required for interpretation The aim of this study is to compare concentrations from a large number of drugs and pharmaceuticals in different sampling media, collected in connection with legal autopsies. Will be collected samples of peripheral (femoral) blood, cardiac blood, urine, vitreous humor, muscle (vastus lateralis and psoas) and pericardial fluid. The medicines will be extracted using solid phase extraction (SPE) and analyzed with LC-MS/MS. The illicit drugs will be extracted with SPE and analyzed with GC-MS according with the methodology developed and validated in the doctoral project. These results will be important for interpretation of concentrations obtained in alternative samples, therefore these samples can be used to elucidate the cause of death in the absence of blood or urine. (AU)