title: Suicide with the veterinary drug acepromazine.
abstract: A suicide case involving the veterinary drug acepromazine is described. After a single-step liquid alkaline extraction, acepromazine was identified in a chest-cavity blood sample using gas chromatography (GC) with nitrogen-phosphorus (NPD) and mass selective detectors. Acepromazine was then quantitated in the blood and other postmortem tissues by GC with NPD using chlorpromazine as the internal standard. Acepromazine concentrations in the chest-cavity blood, liver, brain, and bile were 0.6, 3.0, 0.4, and 6.5 micrograms/mL, respectively. The stomach contents contained a total of 2.5 mg acepromazine.
authors.affiliation: Forensic Toxicologist, Institute of Environmental Science and Research Limited (ESR), Lower Hutt, New Zealand.
authors.forename: L I
authors.initials: LI
authors.lastname: Stowell
mesh_terms: D000075:Acepromazine / Q000493:pharmacokinetics / Q000506:poisoning*; D000328:Adult; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000493:pharmacokinetics / Q000506:poisoning*; D002849:Chromatography, Gas; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D005260:Female; D005554:Forensic Medicine; D006801:Humans; D013405:Suicide; D014018:Tissue Distribution; D019155:Veterinary Drugs / Q000506:poisoning*
chemical_list: D014150:Antipsychotic Agents; D019155:Veterinary Drugs; D000075:Acepromazine