Forensic Toxicology最新文献

Purpose: Food forensics is an emerging field and the initial part of this review showcases the toxic effects and the instrumental methods applied for the detection of the most commonly used azo dyes. Electrochemical detection has a lot of advantages and hence the significance of the most important techniques used in the electrochemical detection is discussed. The major part of this review highlights the surface modified electrodes, utilized for the detection of the most important azo dyes to achieve low detection limit (LOD).

Methods: A thorough literature study was conducted using scopus, science direct and other scientific databases using specific keywords such as toxic azo dyes, electrochemical detection, modified electrodes, LOD etc. The recent references in this field have been included.

Results: From the published literature, it is observed that with the growing interests in the field of electrochemical techniques, a lot of importance have been given in the area of modifying the working electrodes. The results unambiguously show that the modified electrodes outperform bare electrodes and offer a lower LOD value.

Conclusion: According to the literature reports it can be concluded that, compared to other detection methods, electrochemical techniques are much dependable and reproducible. The fabrication of the electrode material with the appropriate modifications is the main factor that influences the sensitivity. Electrochemical sensors can be designed to be more sensitive, more reliable, and less expensive. These sensors can be effectively used by toxicologists to detect trace amounts of harmful dyes in food samples.

Purpose: We previously developed evaluation methods using micro-segmental analysis (MSA) to examine the effects of external environments on drug content in hair and nails. In this study, the effects of the natural environmental factors (water, temperature, humidity, light, and soil) on drug contents in nails were examined and compared with our previous experimental data on hair.

Methods: Four hay-fever medicines were used as model drugs (fexofenadine, epinastine, cetirizine, and desloratadine) to evaluate drug stability in the nails. Reference nails containing the four medicines were collected from patients with hay fever who ingested the medicines daily for four months. The nails were exposed to various natural environments for up to four months.

Results: The effects of temperature, humidity, and light on drug contents in the nails were comparatively small. Soil significantly decomposed the nail surfaces and decreased the drug content of the nails (up to 17 %). Water also decreased the drug content (up to 12 %), although no apparent changes in nail surfaces were observed.

Conclusions: In comparison with hair data obtained under the same environmental conditions, light affected drugs in the hair rather than in nails, whereas water and soil greatly affected drugs in the nails rather than in hair. Although the disposition of drugs incorporated in the tissues differed between nails and hair, the analytes were detected in nails and hair strands left in severe natural environments. MSA could be useful for estimating drug-use histories and personal profiles using the nails and hair of a corpse.

Background/purpose: Mephedrone, a ring-substituted synthetic cathinone derivative, gained popularity as a recreational drug in the late 2000s. Reports of fatalities related to mephedrone use have emerged with varying concentrations of blood mephedrone upon forensic investigations. This study aims to evaluate the existing literature on mephedrone concentrations in instances of clinical intoxication and fatal cases.

Methods: We comprehensively searched electronic databases, including Web of Science, PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library, from inception to July 26, 2023. We selected case reports or case series of mephedrone intoxication presented with individual blood mephedrone concentration. Patient demographics, clinical characteristics, blood mephedrone concentrations, and outcomes were extracted for analysis.

Results: 77 cases from 14 case reports and 6 case series were identified for review. There were 34 deaths and 43 non-fatal intoxication cases. The median patient's age was 24 years (IQR: 10), and 91.4% were male. Forty-five of the 63 cases (71.4%) were reported with alcohol or other illicit drugs detected. The median blood mephedrone concentration was 0.37 mg/L (IQR: 1.09 mg/L). Death cases were older than non-fatal cases (median = 30 vs. 22 years, p = 0.029). The median blood mephedrone concentration was higher in death cases (1.30 mg/L vs. 0.12 mg/L, p < 0.0001).

Conclusions: Blood mephedrone concentration in dead patients is approximately 11 times higher than in non-fatal cases. This finding could serve as a stepping stone to the diagnosis of concentrations in clinical poisoning cases and deaths, especially in the treatment of poisoning patients. In more extensive prospective studies, further research is necessary to establish a standardized, real-time available methodology and validate the predictive value of mephedrone concentrations in the prognostic value of mephedrone concentrations.

Purpose: Serum caffeine concentration is an indicator of caffeine intoxication; however, it is difficult to measure it in most emergency departments. We developed a simple estimation method using a point-of-care test kit for urinary caffeine.

Methods: Caffeine-spiked human serum (100, 50, 25, and 10 µg/mL) was diluted 10-, 20-, 50-, and 100-fold with phosphate-buffered saline and applied to the kit. After 5 min incubation, the kit was scanned by a flatbed scanner and the membrane image was processed with ImageJ.

Results: When the 20-fold diluted serum was applied, serum samples with initial caffeine concentration ≤ 25 and ≥ 50 µg/mL were caffeine-negative and -positive, respectively. When the 100-fold diluted serum was applied, none of the caffeine-spiked serum samples gave positive results. Therefore, we proposed the following test procedure: (i) 20-fold diluted serum was initially tested and (ii) 100-fold diluted serum was additionally tested when the initial result was caffeine positive. Using this procedure, caffeine concentration is expected to be classified into three levels: ≤ 25, > 25- ≤ 100, and > 100 µg/mL, which almost correspond to no or mild, severe, and potentially fatal intoxication, respectively. The test procedure was validated using postmortem heart blood from two cases of fatal caffeine intoxication (caffeine concentration: 276 and 175 µg/mL) and two cases of other intoxication.

Conclusions: Our developed method using point-of-care urinary caffeine test kits enabled simple estimation of serum caffeine concentration.

Purpose: The most commonly associated substance found in Ecstasy tablets is MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine). In our study, we showed how the composition of psychoactive ingredients in Ecstasy tablets seized on the drug market in Poland has changed in the years 2005-2020.

Methods: The study material consisted of nearly 20,000 single Ecstasy tablets seized by representatives of law enforcement (the police, prosecutors) from 2005 to 2020 and analysed by the Institute of Forensic Research, Krakow, Poland. The analysis of the tablets was carried out by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), high-performance liquid chromatography with diode array detection (HPLC-DAD) and ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography with photodiode array detection (UHPLC-PDA).

Results: Currently, new types of MDMA tablets are introduced onto the market, available in various colours and shapes. Our study showed that tablets sold on the street as Ecstasy have variable purity and sometimes contain little or no MDMA. The mean content of MDMA in one tablet seized in 2005-2011 decreased from 90 to 50 mg. In 2013, Ecstasy tablets with a very high MDMA content (average 195 mg per tablet) appeared on the market, but in the next 2 years, the MDMA content decreased again. From 2016, the average MDMA content began to rise again, ranging from 60 to 280 mg.

Conclusion: Tablets sold as Ecstasy also contained completely different psychoactive substances, including new psychoactive substances (NPS) (found in almost 20% of all examined tablets sold as Ecstasy) belonging to different chemical groups or their dangerous combinations (i.e. phenylethylamines, piperazines, tryptamines, cathinones, arylalkylamines, arylcyclohexylamines and piperidines). Such a large variety of psychoactive substances in Ecstasy tablets is associated with a high risk for users unaware of their composition.

Purpose: The abusive consumption of illegal E-cigarettes containing etomidate (ET) can have a significant impact on public mental and physical well-being. The purpose of this study is to establish a rapid quantitative method using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) for the targeted screening of etomidate (ET) and its metabolite etomidate acid (ETA) in hair samples.

Methods: A 1 mL methanol solution containing the internal standard ET-d₅ at a concentration of 50 pg/mg was added to 20 mg of hair and milled below 4 °C. After centrifugation, 5 μL of the supernatant was injected into a UHPLC-MS/MS system.

Results: The limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) were determined to be 1 pg/mg and 10 pg/mg, respectively, for ET, and 10 pg/mg and 25 pg/mg, respectively, for ETA. Calibration curves for all analytes showed good linearity (r > 0.997), indicating a reliable method. Accuracies were between 92.12% and 110.72%. Intra-day and inter-day precision for all analytes at all concentration levels were below 10.13%. Analyte recoveries ranged from 86.90% to 101.43%, with a matrix effect ranging from -18.55% to -14.93%.

Conclusions: The validated method was successfully used to analyze 105 hair samples from suspected ET users. Of these, 50 tested positive for ET and 43 tested positive for ETA above the LOQ. This demonstrates the effectiveness of the developed UHPLC-MS/MS method in detecting ET and ETA in hair samples, which could be instrumental in addressing the issue of illegal E-cigarette abuse and its impact on public health.

Background: The widespread misuse of synthetic cannabinoids (SCs) has led to a notable increase in reported adverse effects, raising significant health concerns. SCs use has been particularly associated with acute kidney injury (AKI). However, the pathogenesis of SCs-induced AKI is not well-understood.

Methods: We investigated the nephrotoxic effect of acute administration of N-[(1S)- 1-(aminocarbonyl)-2-methylpropyl]-1-[(4-fluorophenyl)methyl]-1H-indazole-3-carboxamide (AB-FUBINKA) (3 mg/kg for 5 days) in mice. Various parameters of oxidative stress, inflammation, and apoptosis have been quantified. The expressions of mitochondrial complexes (I-V) in renal tissues were also assessed.

Results: Our findings showed that AB-FUBINACA induced substantial impairment in the renal function that is accompanied by elevated expression of renal tubular damage markers; KIM-1 and NGAL. Administration of AB-FUBINACA was found to be associated with a significant increase in the expression of oxidative stress markers (iNOS, NOX4, NOX2, NOS3) and the level of lipid peroxidation in the kidney. The expression of pro-inflammatory markers (IL-6, TNF-alpha, NF-kB) was also enhanced following exposure to AB-FUBINACA. These findings were also correlated with increased expression of major apoptosis regulatory markers (Bax, caspase-9, caspase-3) and reduced expression of mitochondrial complexes I, III, and IV.

Conclusion: These results indicate that AB-FUBINACA can trigger oxidative stress and inflammation, and activate caspase-dependent apoptosis in the kidney, with these processes being possibly linked to disruption of mitochondrial complexes and could be an underlying mechanism of SCs-induced nephrotoxicity.

Purpose: Diagnosis of drug intoxication in the medico-legal autopsy is challenging due to many factors such as non-specific clinical features and non-specific, inconclusive autopsy findings, etc. Thus, deaths due to drug intoxication can be misclassified in a low-resource setting where post-mortem toxicology testing is selective. The paper presents a fatal case of unrecognized nifedipine intoxication in an adult where the manner of death was undetermined after extensive investigation.

Method: The liquid-liquid extraction using chloroform was carried out on a blood sample spiked with nifedipine. Subsequently, the post-mortem blood sample was analyzed and quantified using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry with electron ionization technique.

Results: The patient before death had symptoms, such as trismus, vomiting, and dizziness. The initial blood pressure and pulse rate were 94/56 mm Hg and 110 beats per minute, respectively. The respiratory rate was 20 breaths per minute. The post-mortem examination revealed no pathological changes or injuries in any organs. Upon histopathological examination, no significant findings that could have led to death were observed in any of the organs. The level of nifedipine in the peripheral blood, 0.645 μg/ml was determined to be either  close to or exceeding the reported fatal dose. The cause of death was ascertained as acute nifedipine intoxication.

Conclusion: It is crucial to accurately determine the cause of death in cases that pose a significant threat to public health. This case highlights the challenges faced by forensic pathologists in scientifically ascertaining the cause of death accurately, especially in intoxication deaths, and the importance of comprehensive toxicology testing services including analytical toxicology for the integrity of the medico-legal death investigation system.

Purpose: The metabolic pathways of APP-CHMINACA were characterized to select the markers of intake for implementation into analytical assays used by the clinical and forensic communities. We have combined the evidences obtained by both in vitro experiments and administration studies on mice.

Methods: APP-CHMINACA was incubated with either human or mouse liver microsomes. Urine and blood samples were collected at different time points from mice after injection of a 3 mg/kg dose of the test compound. Samples were analyzed using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.

Results: The in vitro studies allowed to isolate eight different metabolic reactions, formed by two metabolic routes, with no differences between human and mouse liver microsomes. The main biotransformation route involved the hydrolysis of the distal amide group and the subsequent hydroxylation on the cyclohexyl-methyl ring. The second route involved multiple hydroxylation of the parent compound, followed by reduction to generate minor metabolites. In blood samples, the most abundant substances identified were APP-CHMINACA unchanged and the metabolites formed by the hydrolysis of the distal amide together with its hydroxylated products. In urine samples, four metabolites formed following the hydroxylation of the distal amide hydrolysis metabolite were detected as the most abundant and long-term metabolites.

Conclusions: The outcomes of our study showed that the most suitable markers to detect the intake of APP-CHMINACA in blood and urine samples in the framework of toxicological, clinical and forensic investigations were the metabolite formed by the hydrolysis of the distal amide and its hydroxylated products.