Detection of Drugs in Postmortem Specimens of Blood, Vitreous Humor and Bone Marrow Aspirate

Abstract

Abstract In case of basic biological materials (blood, urine, vitreous humor) being unavailable, bone marrow can be used for toxicological tests. The aim of the study was to assess the concentration of various xenobiotics in the bone marrow, as well as in the blood and the vitreous humor. The analysis was performed in the biological material originating from the autopsy (n = 120), using the LC–MS method and with liquid/liquid extraction at pH = 9. As many as 46 different xenobiotics were detected in the biological material, strong correlations between the concentration of a given xenobiotic in blood and bone marrow, as well as in the vitreous humor and bone marrow, were noted for most of them, with the exception of diazepam and 7-aminoclonazepam. The obtained results indicate the possibility of using bone marrow to determine the concentration of numerous xenobiotics in the situation of basic biological materials being unavailable, as well as using the results obtained in the future to better understand the pharmacokinetic processes and the effect of postmortem redistribution on medication and drug concentrations in the body of a deceased person.