Drugs, pesticides and metabolites in forensic post-mortem blood samples

Abstract

Forensic post-mortem toxicological data provide valuable information for the elucidation of cause of death. However, this is still not routine practice in Brazilian laboratories. This study investigated the presence of illicit and prescription drugs, pesticides and metabolites in 111 post-mortem blood samples from cases investigated by the Forensic Medical Institute of the Federal District, Brazil. Quantitative analysis was performed for 14 analytes using a validated programmed temperature vaporisation-large volume injection-gas chromatography–mass spectrometry method, which was also used as screening (qualitative analysis) for an additional 19 substances of forensic interest. At least one analyte was found in 61.2% of the samples, of which 34 were related to homicide, 15 to accidental death and 10 to suicide cases. The victims were 14–72 years old. The benzodiazepines diazepam, midazolam and 7-aminoflunitrazepan were detected in 46% of the positive samples (0.02–1.12 µg/mL; midazolam only qualitative). Cocaine was found in 34% (0.02–4.07 µg/mL), associated with substances commonly used as cocaine adulterants (e.g. caffeine, lidocaine and phenacetin). Three suicide cases involved the illegal rodenticide chumbinho, residues of which were found in the gastric content, and blood samples showed the presence of terbufos (0.03 and 0.04 µg/mL) and carbofuran (27.3 µg/mL). These results are discussed, along with autopsy and crime-scene information.

Medical Psychotropics in Forensic Autopsies in European Countries: Results from a Three-Year Retrospective Study in Spain

“…In other hand, it has been reported that the most frequently detected substances in forensic autopsies were benzodiazepines, opiates, and alcohol. Thus, such a situation has been reported in Norway [36], Japan [3] and even in some South American countries [37]. The results of the present study reinforce these reports, as in our series BZDs and MOs were also the most frequent medical psychotropics found in toxicological analyses of compulsory autopsy samples.…”

Determination of new psychoactive substances and other drugs in postmortem blood and urine by UHPLC–MS/MS: method validation and analysis of forensic samples

“…THC (mainly as its metabolite THC-COOH; 11 cases) and cocaine (mainly as its metabolite benzoylecgonine; 9 cases) were the main illegal drugs found in the samples. In a previous work conducted in the Federal District, cocaine was the main illegal drug found in the postmortem blood samples, present in 15% of the analyzed samples (up to 3130 ng/mL), and benzodiazepines the main prescription drugs; however, NPS were not included in the study [8].…”

“…In Brazil, data on NPS are scarce, but include seizure data [4,5] and some postmortem cases [6]. Furthermore, prescription drugs are among the major causes of fatal poisonings in the world, and their concomitant use with illegal drugs is common [7][8][9].…”

Quantitative Study on Anti-Pest Activity of Natural Products Based on Visualization Framework of Knowledge Graph

“…Based on the evolution of pesticide development determined by combining keyword visible contribution analysis, many scholars have examined the degradation of different types of pesticides, influence of different pesticides on soil, drug attenuation half-life, detection of heavy metals and problems associated with pesticide residues [59][60][61][62] . Researchers have gradually shifted from studying synthetic pesticides to analyzing organic pesticides [63][64][65][66][67] .…”