Santunione Anna Laura, Verri Patrizia, Marchesi Filippo, Rustichelli Cecilia, Palazzoli Federica, Vandelli Daniele, Licata Manuela, Silingardi Enrico
Department of Diagnostic Medicine, Clinical and Public Health, Division of Legal Medicine, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Via del Pozzo 71, 41124 Modena, Italy.
Department of Diagnostic Medicine, Clinical and Public Health, Division of Legal Medicine, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Via del Pozzo 71, 41124 Modena, Italy.
J Forensic Leg Med. 2018 Jan;53:25-30. doi: 10.1016/j.jflm.2017.10.009. Epub 2017 Nov 1.
Ethanol determination in postmortem blood is one of the most frequently requested analyses in legal medicine and forensic toxicology. Ethyl glucuronide is a non-oxidative ethanol metabolite. It is also a useful marker of ante-mortem alcohol ingestion when ethanol itself has been completely eliminated from the body and could be considered in autopsy cases to obtain more reliable indications. The aim of the present study was to investigate the ethyl glucuronide distribution in postmortem specimens from autopsy cases found to be positive for ethanol. We presented 21 autopsy cases in which central blood, peripheral blood and liver samples were available. Specimens were analyzed for ethyl glucuronide by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry; we also recorded postmortem interval, case history, cause of death, use of drugs, metabolic disorders if present, putrefaction if present, history of ethanol abuse and information about ethanol intake before death. Our aim was to evaluate and to compare the ethyl glucuronide levels in different matrices taken from the same subject in order to provide a better understanding of the interpretation of postmortem ethyl glucuronide concentrations.
死后血液中乙醇的测定是法医学和法医毒理学中最常要求进行的分析之一。乙基葡萄糖醛酸苷是一种非氧化性乙醇代谢产物。当乙醇本身已从体内完全消除时，它也是生前饮酒的有用标志物，在尸检案例中可予以考虑以获得更可靠的指征。本研究的目的是调查在乙醇检测呈阳性的尸检案例的死后标本中乙基葡萄糖醛酸苷的分布情况。我们展示了21例可获取中心血、外周血和肝脏样本的尸检案例。通过液相色谱串联质谱法分析标本中的乙基葡萄糖醛酸苷；我们还记录了死后间隔时间、病史、死因、药物使用情况、是否存在代谢紊乱、是否存在腐败、乙醇滥用史以及死亡前乙醇摄入信息。我们的目的是评估和比较取自同一受试者的不同基质中的乙基葡萄糖醛酸苷水平，以便更好地理解死后乙基葡萄糖醛酸苷浓度的解读。
