Yajima Daisuke, Motani Hisako, Kamei Katsuhiko, Sato Yayoi, Hayakawa Mutsumi, Iwase Hirotaro
Department of Legal Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, 1-8-1 Inohana, Chiba City, Chiba, Japan.
Forensic Sci Int. 2006 Dec 20;164(2-3):116-21. doi: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2005.12.009. Epub 2006 Jan 20.
We present two cases in which the ethanol concentration in blood samples taken after death continued to increase in the absence of any remarkable increase in n-propanol concentration. Species of bacteria and yeasts, including Candida albicans were isolated from these samples. We then examined whether C. albicans, the most common yeast in the general environment, was able to produce ethanol in human blood stored at room temperature. Ethanol production increased as the glucose concentration increased, indicating that C. albicans produced ethanol from the glucose. Our results also suggested that C. albicans produced ethanol more easily in blood diluted by intravenous infusions that included glucose than in undiluted blood. These findings are useful for the evaluation of postmortem ethanol production in subjects whose blood has been diluted by infusions with glucose. Furthermore, there was no quantitative relationship between the amount of n-propanol detected and the amount of ethanol production: n-propanol appears to be an unreliable index of putrefaction and postmortem ethanol production by C. albicans. It is possible for the blood ethanol level to be high and n-propanol not to be detected, even if the subject has not been drinking alcohol. We reconfirmed the necessity of immediately adding sodium fluoride to samples for ethanol analysis to prevent postmortem ethanol production.
我们报告了两例死后采集的血样中乙醇浓度持续升高而正丙醇浓度无显著升高的病例。从这些样本中分离出了包括白色念珠菌在内的细菌和酵母菌种。然后，我们研究了一般环境中最常见的酵母——白色念珠菌是否能够在室温保存的人血中产生乙醇。乙醇产量随葡萄糖浓度的增加而增加，表明白色念珠菌从葡萄糖中产生乙醇。我们的结果还表明，白色念珠菌在含有葡萄糖的静脉输液稀释的血液中比在未稀释的血液中更容易产生乙醇。这些发现有助于评估血液被葡萄糖输液稀释的受试者的死后乙醇产生情况。此外，检测到的正丙醇量与乙醇产生量之间没有定量关系：正丙醇似乎是白色念珠菌腐败和死后乙醇产生的不可靠指标。即使受试者没有饮酒，血液乙醇水平也可能很高而未检测到正丙醇。我们再次确认了在用于乙醇分析的样本中立即添加氟化钠以防止死后乙醇产生的必要性。
