title: Determination of opiates in postmortem bone and bone marrow.
abstract: Bone and bone marrow of a fatally poisoned heroin addict were analyzed by FPIA and GC-FID, immediately after death. A piece of the bone from the above case was buried for 1 year and analyzed by the same procedure. Morphine was detected in all specimens at concentrations of 195, 340 and 155 ng/g for bone marrow, bone and buried bone, respectively. A loss of 54.4% of morphine concentration was observed during 1-year burial. Such findings have potential forensic value in cases of skeletonized remains.
authors.affiliation: Department of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology, Faculty of Medicine, Aristotle University, 540 06 Thessaloniki, Greece.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Raikos
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tsoukali
authors.forename: S N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Njau
mesh_terms: D001853:Bone Marrow / Q000737:chemistry*; D001842:Bone and Bones / Q000737:chemistry*; D002849:Chromatography, Gas; D062787:Drug Overdose; D005554:Forensic Medicine; D006556:Heroin Dependence / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D009020:Morphine / Q000032:analysis* / Q000506:poisoning; D009294:Narcotics / Q000032:analysis* / Q000506:poisoning; D011180:Postmortem Changes; D015813:Substance Abuse Detection; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D009294:Narcotics; D009020:Morphine