title: HPLC analysis of anti-malaria agent, chloroquine in blood and tissue from forensic autopsy cases in Tanzania.
abstract: HPLC analysis of anti-malaria agent, chloroquine (CQ) in blood and tissues with a simple HCl back extraction method was applied to three forensic autopsy cases in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. CQ concentrations in femoral vein blood were 8.5, 48.4 and 43.8 microg/ml in three cases, respectively, which were high enough to attribute the cause of deaths to an acute CQ poisoning. There were great site dependent variations in blood CQ levels. The right heart blood samples were very high, which may be explained by incomplete distribution of the drug before death or postmortem diffusion from liver and its surrounding blood, as high CQ levels were remarkable in the liver. Suicidal and accidental CQ poisonings are very common and CQ is a very important chemical in the field of forensic toxicology in Tanzania.
authors.affiliation: Department of Forensic Medicine, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto 860-8556, Japan. yonemie@kumamoto-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Kosei
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yonemitsu
authors.forename: Ako
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Koreeda
authors.forename: Kazuhiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kibayashi
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ng'walali
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mbonde
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kitinya
authors.forename: Shigeyuki
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tsunenari
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000962:Antimalarials / Q000493:pharmacokinetics* / Q000506:poisoning*; D002738:Chloroquine / Q000493:pharmacokinetics* / Q000506:poisoning*; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D005260:Female; D049429:Forensic Pathology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011041:Poisoning / Q000175:diagnosis; D014018:Tissue Distribution
chemical_list: D000962:Antimalarials; D002738:Chloroquine