title: Stability of endogenous GHB in vitreous humor vs peripheral blood in dead bodies.
abstract: For the first time, the stability of GHB was tested in post-mortem peripheral blood and vitreous humor samples, collected from 22 dead bodies at two different times: at the external body examination at the place of death and then during autopsy. An ad hoc method for the detection and quantification of GHB in vitreous humor by gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was developed and validated, with a good linearity between 0.1 and 50μg/mL (r2=0.991) and a precision and accuracy always better than 10% and an analytical recovery higher than 90%. The geometric mean of GHB concentration in the 22 peripheral blood samples at t0was: 3.6μg/mL (95% CI: 2.3-5.9μg/mL) and at t1it was 7.4μg/mL (95% CI: 5.0-10.9μg/mL); that of GHB in the 22 vitreous humor at t0was: 2.5μg/mL (95% CI: 1.5-4.1μg/mL) and at t1it was 3.0μg/mL (95% CI: 1.9-4.8μg/mL). There was no significant difference between the GHB concentrations in vitreous humor and peripheral blood at t0in all the samples (p>0.10). Conversely at t1, the increase of GHB in the peripheral blood was significantly increased by a 102% (range: 86-120%) (p<0.001 vs t0), while in the vitreous humor only a slight increase by 19% was observed (range: 16-21%) (p>0.05 vs t0). Finally at t1, GHB values in the two matrices were statistically different, being that of peripheral blood higher (p<0.01). This study demonstrated the usefulness of vitreous humor as a more stable alternative matrix in comparison to peripheral blood for the post-mortem determination of endogenous GHB.
authors.affiliation: Unit of Forensic Toxicology (UoFT), Department of Anatomical, Histological, Forensic and Orthopedic Sciences, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesco Paolo
authors.initials: FP
authors.lastname: Busardò
authors.affiliation: Unit of Forensic Toxicology (UoFT), Department of Anatomical, Histological, Forensic and Orthopedic Sciences, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Giulio
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mannocchi
authors.affiliation: Section of Legal Medicine, Università Politecnica delle Marche, 60121 Ancona, Italy.
authors.forename: Raffaele
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Giorgetti
authors.affiliation: Drug Abuse and Doping Unit, Department of Therapeutic Research and Medicines Evaluation, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Manuela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pellegrini
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Health, Migration and Poverty (NIHMP), Via di S. Gallicano, 25/a, 00153 Roma, Italy.
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Baglio
authors.affiliation: Unit of Forensic Toxicology (UoFT), Department of Anatomical, Histological, Forensic and Orthopedic Sciences, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Simona
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zaami
authors.affiliation: Unit of Forensic Toxicology (UoFT), Department of Anatomical, Histological, Forensic and Orthopedic Sciences, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Enrico
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Marinelli
authors.affiliation: Drug Abuse and Doping Unit, Department of Therapeutic Research and Medicines Evaluation, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy. Electronic address: simona.pichini@iss.it.
authors.forename: Simona
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pichini
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011180:Postmortem Changes; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012978:Sodium Oxybate / Q000378:metabolism*; D014822:Vitreous Body / Q000378:metabolism*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D012978:Sodium Oxybate
keywords: GC–MS; GHB; Peripheral blood; Post-mortem stability; Vitreous humor