Sadones Nele, Lambert Willy E, Stove Christophe P
Laboratory of Toxicology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
Laboratory of Toxicology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
Forensic Sci Int. 2017 May;274:38-43. doi: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2017.01.002. Epub 2017 Jan 7.
Beta-hydroxybutyric acid (BHB) is a ketone body which is generated from fatty acids as an alternative energy source when glucose is not available. Determination of this compound may be relevant in the forensic laboratory as ketoacidosis - an elevated level of ketone bodies - may contribute to the cause of death. In this study, we aimed at determining the relevance of routinely implementing BHB analysis in the forensic toxicological laboratory, as BHB analysis typically requires an additional workload. We therefore performed an unbiased retrospective analysis of BHB in 599 cases, comprising 553 blood, 232 urine and 62 vitreous humour samples. Cases with BHB concentrations above 100mg/L (in blood, urine and/or vitreous humour) were invariably associated with elevated levels of acetone, another ketone body, the detection of which is already implemented in most forensic laboratories using the gas chromatographic procedure for ethanol quantification. Our retrospective analysis did not reveal any positive case that had been missed initially and confirms that BHB analysis can be limited to acetone positive cases.
β-羟基丁酸（BHB）是一种酮体，当葡萄糖无法获取时，它由脂肪酸生成，作为一种替代能源。在法医实验室中，测定这种化合物可能具有重要意义，因为酮酸中毒（酮体水平升高）可能是死因之一。在本研究中，我们旨在确定在法医毒理学实验室常规开展BHB分析的相关性，因为BHB分析通常需要额外的工作量。因此，我们对599例案件中的BHB进行了无偏倚的回顾性分析，这些案件包括553份血液样本、232份尿液样本和62份玻璃体液样本。BHB浓度高于100mg/L（在血液、尿液和/或玻璃体液中）的病例总是与另一种酮体丙酮水平升高相关，大多数法医实验室已经采用气相色谱法测定乙醇时检测丙酮。我们的回顾性分析未发现任何最初被漏检的阳性病例，并证实BHB分析可仅限于丙酮阳性病例。
