In vivo: |
J Forensic Leg Med. 2014 Mar;23:37-43. | Determination of cocaine and its major metabolite benzoylecgonine in several matrices obtained from deceased individuals with presumed drug consumption prior to death.[Pubmed: 24661704] | In particular, when femoral blood is unavailable for analysis for the presence of systemic exposure to cocaine and its principal metabolite, Benzoylecgonine, validated methodologies from matrices other than blood that can be obtained in the autopsy room would be useful to the forensic toxicologist in the evaluation of a specific forensic case.
METHODS AND RESULTS:
To address this issue, we implemented and compared in our study the systematic evaluation of extraction, chromatographic separation, and quantification of cocaine and Benzoylecgonine in different biological matrices (right and left cardiac blood, femoral arterial and venous blood, urine, vitreous humor, cerebrospinal fluid, brain accumbens nucleus, brain ventral tegmental area, and liver).
CONCLUSIONS:
The methods were applied to evaluate a thanatological case using all the study matrices, showing unequal postmortem distribution of cocaine and Benzoylecgonine throughout the different matrices tested. | Am J Forensic Med Pathol. 2015 Jun;36(2):84-7. | The effect of chronic renal failure on the benzoylecgonine blood level: a case report.[Pubmed: 25881815] | Chronic renal failure results in reduced elimination of a variety of substances within the blood, including numerous drugs and their metabolites.
METHODS AND RESULTS:
This report describes a case of a man who died in jail, after less than 48 hours of being incarcerated, wherein postmortem toxicology testing revealed a blood benzoylecgonine level of 0.25 mg/L with no cocaine detected, suggesting possible recent cocaine use in jail.
CONCLUSIONS:
Autopsy and investigation revealed severe underlying cardiovascular disease and dialysis-dependent CRF, thus accounting for the elevated benzoylecgonine levels and allaying concerns that the man obtained and used cocaine in jail. | Analyst. 2015 Sep 21;140(18):6254-9. | Rapid detection of cocaine, benzoylecgonine and methylecgonine in fingerprints using surface mass spectrometry.[Pubmed: 25977942] |
Latent fingerprints provide a potential route to the secure, high throughput and non-invasive detection of drugs of abuse.
METHODS AND RESULTS:
In this study we show for the first time that the excreted metabolites of drugs of abuse can be detected in fingerprints using ambient mass spectrometry. Fingerprints and oral fluid were taken from patients attending a drug and alcohol treatment service. Gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was used to test the oral fluid of patients for the presence of cocaine and benzoylecgonine. The corresponding fingerprints were analysed using Desorption Electrospray Ionization (DESI) which operates under ambient conditions and Ion Mobility Tandem Mass Spectrometry Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization (MALDI-IMS-MS/MS) and Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS). The detection of cocaine, benzoylecgonine (BZE) and methylecgonine (EME) in latent fingerprints using both DESI and MALDI showed good correlation with oral fluid testing. The sensitivity of SIMS was found to be insufficient for this application.
CONCLUSIONS:
These results provide exciting opportunities for the use of fingerprints as a new sampling medium for secure, non-invasive drug detection. The mass spectrometry techniques used here offer a high level of selectivity and consume only a small area of a single fingerprint, allowing repeat and high throughput analyses of a single sample. |
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