title: Determination of Anticoagulant Rodenticides and α-Chloralose in Human Hair. Application to a Real Case.
abstract: Anticoagulant rodenticides are the largest group of poisons used to kill harmful rodents. Their fundamental mode of action consists in the inhibition of the vitamin K epoxide reductase, which causes blood-clotting alteration, ultimately leading to hemorrhagic events as the cause of death. In this study, we developed an UHPLC-MS-MS for the simultaneous determination of 10 anticoagulant hydroxycoumarine rodenticides, plus α-chloralose in human hair, with the scope of detecting potential trace of chronological poison exposure in clinical and forensic cases. The method was fully validated and applied to a case of intentional poisoning perpetrated by administration of difenacoum and α-chloralose to a 97-year-old woman, who was hospitalized because of severe symptoms, including drowsiness, convulsions, pallor and hematoma. Hair sample from the victim was segmentally analyzed. Difenacoum was detected in the proximal 3-cm hair segment at the concentration of 2.9 pg/mg. To our knowledge, this is the first study to report that exposure to difenacoum is detectable in real hair samples. The other target analyte found in the hair sample was α-chloralose, which was detected in the 0-3 cm segment at the concentration of 85 pg/mg. The two subsequent and consecutive segments (3-6 cm and 6-9 cm) showed only traces of difenacoum (below LOQ) and low but quantifiable concentrations of α-chloralose (29 and 6 pg/mg, respectively). Therefore, hair segmental analysis allowed us to conclude that the victim was repeatedly exposed to two poisons in the period corresponding to the first segment of hair.
authors.affiliation: Centro Regionale Antidoping e di Tossicologia "A. Bertinaria", regione Gonzole 10/1, 10043 Orbassano, TO, Italy.
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Leporati
authors.affiliation: Centro Regionale Antidoping e di Tossicologia "A. Bertinaria", regione Gonzole 10/1, 10043 Orbassano, TO, Italy alberto.salomone@antidoping.piemonte.it.
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Salomone
authors.affiliation: Medicina Legale ASL TO2, Via Foligno 14, 10149 Torino, Italy.
authors.forename: Giambattista
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Golè
authors.affiliation: Centro Regionale Antidoping e di Tossicologia "A. Bertinaria", regione Gonzole 10/1, 10043 Orbassano, TO, Italy Dipartimento di Chimica, Università degli Studi di Torino, via P. Giuria 7, 10125 Torino, Italy.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vincenti
mesh_terms: D015110:4-Hydroxycoumarins / Q000032:analysis; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000925:Anticoagulants / Q000032:analysis*; D002698:Chloralose / Q000032:analysis*; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D005260:Female; D006197:Hair / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D006993:Hypnotics and Sedatives / Q000032:analysis*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012378:Rodenticides / Q000032:analysis*; D053719:Tandem Mass Spectrometry
chemical_list: D015110:4-Hydroxycoumarins; D000925:Anticoagulants; D006993:Hypnotics and Sedatives; D012378:Rodenticides; D002698:Chloralose; C012903:difenacoum