Can ethyl glucuronide be determined in post-mortem body fluids and tissues?

Wurst, F M; Schüttler, R.; Kempter, Christoph; Seidl, S.; Gilg, T; Jachau, Katja; Alt, Andreas

doi:10.1093/alcalc/34.2.262

Cited by 52 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…In an earlier work, victims with high BACs who had consumed alcohol long enough before death to be resorbed and metabolised by the body, were shown to have high EtG concentrations in urine, liver and blood at the time of autopsy [1]. After these in vitro experiments, it can be assumed that EtG should be detectable even after weeks of post-mortem degradation of the body.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 98%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Stability of ethyl glucuronide in urine, post-mortem tissue and blood samples

et al. 2005

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The stability of ethyl glucuronide (EtG) under conditions of degradation was examined in urine samples of nine volunteers and in post-mortem tissue (liver, skeletal muscle) and blood taken from seven corpses at autopsies. Analysis was performed via LC-MS/MS. EtG concentrations in urine samples ranged from 2.5 to 296.5 mg/l. When stored at 4 degrees C in airtight test tubes, EtG concentrations remained relatively constant; when stored at room temperature (RT) for 5 weeks in ventilated vials, variations of EtG concentrations ranged from a 30% decrease to an 80% increase, with an average of 37.5% increase. Liver and skeletal muscle tissue of three corpses with positive blood alcohol concentrations (BAC; ranging from 0.106 to 0.183 g%) were stored for 4 weeks and analysed periodically. EtG concentrations decreased 27.7% on average in 4 weeks storage at RT but EtG was still detectable in all samples with initial EtG concentrations higher than 1 mug/g. Blood and liver samples of four corpses with negative BACs were stored at RT after addition of 0.1 g% ethanol, and no new formation of EtG was observed.

show abstract

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Ethyl glucuronide (EtG) has been shown to be a useful marker in post-mortem tissue and body liquids for alcohol consumed up to several hours before death [1][2][3]. As analysis material in forensic toxicology can be of poor quality, i.e.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stability of ethyl glucuronide in urine, post-mortem tissue and blood samples

et al. 2005

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In urine, it can be detected longer than ethanol. Therefore, EtG meets the need for a sensitive and specific marker to elucidate alcohol use not detected by standard testing [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. Furthermore, EtG has been detected in hair samples [14 -16] and post-mortem tissues (liver, brain, fat tissue [17]) of alcohol addicts.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Confirmatory analysis of ethylglucuronide in urine by liquid-chromatography/electrospray ionization/tandem mass spectrometry according to forensic guidelines

Weinmann¹,

Schaefer²,

Thierauf³

et al. 2004

J. Am. Soc. Mass Spectrom.

125

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

␤-D-ethylglucuronide (EtG) is a stable Phase II metabolite of ethanol which can be detected in urine samples several days after elimination of ethanol. It is a useful diagnostic parameter for monitoring abstinence of alcoholics in alcohol withdrawal treatment. For this purpose, determination in urine is mainly performed by LC-MS, LC-MS/MS, or by GC-MS. For the mass spectrometric identification and detection of controlled substances in more sensitive fields such as forensic toxicology, workplace drug testing, doping analysis, and veterinary organic residue control, official guidelines have been released requiring a chromatographic separation and a minimum of two mass spectrometric transitions of the analyte. However alcohol consumption remain suboptimal with regard to sensitivity and specificity. Furthermore, these biomarkers can be influenced by age, gender, and a variety of substances and non-alcohol-associated diseases, and do not fully cover the time axis for alcohol intake. Conjugation of ethanol with activated glucuronic acid in the presence of membrane-bound mitochondrial UDP glucuronyl transferase represents a minor detoxification pathway for ethanol: About 0.02-0.06% (mean) of the dose of ethanol administered is recovered as ␤-D-ethylglucuronide (EtG) in urine in humans [1] and-dose dependent-0.5-1.5% in rabbits [2]. EtG is a non-volatile, water-soluble, stable, direct metabolite of ethanol that can be detected in various body fluids, tissues and hair. EtG (C 8 H 14 O 7 ) has a molecular weight of 222 g/mol, and the melting point (decomposition temperature) is about 150°C. Shortly after the initial consumption of even small amounts of ethanol, EtG is formed. It has been detected in urine up to 80 h after the complete elimination of alcohol from the body and was not detectable in teetotalers with a 0.1 mg/L cut-off [3,4]. EtG is unique in covering this important time span of one to three days after alcohol uptake. In urine, it can be detected longer than ethanol. Therefore, EtG meets the need for a sensitive and specific marker to elucidate alcohol use not detected by

show abstract

“…In the interpretation of a postmortem ethanol finding, criteria like specific case information and comparisons of ethanol levels in blood, urine and vitreous humor are often used, but are not always reliable (2,3). A supplementary method to distinguish antemortem ethanol consumption from postmortem ethanol formation is the analysis of the ethanol metabolites ethyl glucuronide (EtG) and ethyl sulfate (EtS) (4)(5)(6)(7). These metabolites are produced by enzymatic conjugation of ethanol in living individuals (8,9).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

EtG and EtS in Autopsy Blood Samples With and Without Putrefaction Using UPLC–MS-MS

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Analytical challenges related to post-mortem specimens are well known. The degree of putrefaction of the corpse will influence the quality of the blood samples, and both the efficiency of sample preparation and the subsequent chromatographic performance can be affected. An ultra performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS-MS) method was developed and validated for the determination of ethyl glucuronide (EtG) and ethyl sulfate (EtS) in postmortem whole blood. Sample preparation prior to UPLC-MS-MS analysis consisted of protein precipitation and filtration through a phospholipid removal plate. Chromatography was achieved using an HSS T3 column and gradient elution with formic acid in water in combination with methanol. The injection volume was 0.5 µL. Negative electrospray ionization was performed in the multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode. Two transitions were monitored for the analytes and one for the internal standards. The between-assay relative standard deviations were in the range of 1.7% -7.0% and the limits of quantification were 0.025 mg/L and 0.009 mg/L for EtG and EtS, respectively. Recovery was 51-55% and matrix effects ranged from 98 to 106% (corrected with internal standard). Blood samples from nine autopsy cases with various extents of putrefaction were analyzed. The sample preparation efficiently removed the phospholipids from the blood specimens. The samples were clean and the analytical quality of the chromatographic performance was satisfactory for both analytes irrespective of the degree of putrefaction.

show abstract

Can ethyl glucuronide be determined in post-mortem body fluids and tissues?

Cited by 52 publications

References 0 publications

Stability of ethyl glucuronide in urine, post-mortem tissue and blood samples

Stability of ethyl glucuronide in urine, post-mortem tissue and blood samples

Confirmatory analysis of ethylglucuronide in urine by liquid-chromatography/electrospray ionization/tandem mass spectrometry according to forensic guidelines

EtG and EtS in Autopsy Blood Samples With and Without Putrefaction Using UPLC–MS-MS

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About