TY - JOUR
T1 - Distribution of opiates in femoral blood and vitreous humour in heroin/morphine-related deaths
AU - Rees, K.A.
AU - Pounder, Derrick J.
AU - Osselton, M.D.
N1 - Copyright 2013 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2013/3/10
Y1 - 2013/3/10
N2 - The distribution of free morphine (FM), codeine and 6-acetylmorphine (6AM) in vitreous humour (VH) and femoral blood (FB) was measured in 70 cases involving heroin/morphine. The relationship between tissue drug concentrations was assessed with respect to case circumstances. Total morphine (TM) concentrations in FB are also reported. The relative concentrations of FM in VH and FB were influenced by survival time. In rapid deaths (3h; n=12) the VH concentration (median 0.15mg/L) was higher than in FB (0.092mg/L; p>.05). Free morphine VH/FB ratios were significantly higher in delayed (median 1.3) compared to rapid deaths (0.64). Although these findings indicate a lag in the distribution of morphine into the VH, overlaps were observed in the VH/FB ratio in rapid and delayed death groups which limits the interpretive use of VH/FB ratios. Codeine and 6AM appeared to distribute more rapidly into the VH. Despite the observation that all opiate analytes were correlated between FB and VH (r=61; p
AB - The distribution of free morphine (FM), codeine and 6-acetylmorphine (6AM) in vitreous humour (VH) and femoral blood (FB) was measured in 70 cases involving heroin/morphine. The relationship between tissue drug concentrations was assessed with respect to case circumstances. Total morphine (TM) concentrations in FB are also reported. The relative concentrations of FM in VH and FB were influenced by survival time. In rapid deaths (3h; n=12) the VH concentration (median 0.15mg/L) was higher than in FB (0.092mg/L; p>.05). Free morphine VH/FB ratios were significantly higher in delayed (median 1.3) compared to rapid deaths (0.64). Although these findings indicate a lag in the distribution of morphine into the VH, overlaps were observed in the VH/FB ratio in rapid and delayed death groups which limits the interpretive use of VH/FB ratios. Codeine and 6AM appeared to distribute more rapidly into the VH. Despite the observation that all opiate analytes were correlated between FB and VH (r=61; p
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84875634676&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.forsciint.2013.01.002
DO - 10.1016/j.forsciint.2013.01.002
M3 - Article
C2 - 23357228
AN - SCOPUS:84875634676
SN - 0379-0738
VL - 226
SP - 152
EP - 159
JO - Forensic Science International
JF - Forensic Science International
IS - 1-3
ER -