TY - JOUR
TI - Concentrations of volatile substances in costal cartilage in relation to blood and urine – preliminary studies
AU - Tomsia, Marcin
AU - Nowicka, Joanna
AU - Skowronek, Rafał
AU - Javan, Gulnaz T.
AU - Chełmecka, Elżbieta
TI - Concentrations of volatile substances in costal cartilage in relation to blood and urine – preliminary studies
AB - Aim: The study aimed to examine whether volatile substances (ethanol, isopropanol, and acetone) can be detected in costal cartilage and also if concentrations of detected substances reliably reflect their concentrations in the peripheral blood – the standard forensic material for toxicological analyses. Such knowledge can be useful in cases when a cadaver’s blood is unavailable or contaminated.
Material and methods: Ethanol, isopropanol, and acetone concentrations were determined in samples of unground costal cartilage (UCC), ground costal cartilage (GCC), femoral venous blood, and urine. The samples were analysed by gas chromatography (GC) with a flame ionization detector using headspace analysis.
Results: Volatile substances were detected in 12 out of 100 analysed samples. There was a strong positive correlation between ethanol concentration in the blood and urine (r = 0.899, p < 0.001), UCC (r = 0.809, p < 0.01), and GCC (r = 0.749, p < 0.01). A similar strong correlation was found for isopropanol concentration in the blood and urine (r = 0.979, p < 0.001), UCC (r = 0.866, p < 0.001), and GCC (r = 0.942, p < 0.001). Acetone concentration in the blood strongly correlated only with its concentration in urine (r = 0.960, p < 0.001).
Conclusions: We demonstrated for the first time the possibility of detecting volatile substances: ethanol, isopropanol and acetone in a human costal cartilage. Also, the study showed that higher volatiles concentrations were better determined in ground samples.
VL - 2021
IS - Vol. 71 (1-2)
PY - 2021
SN - 0324-8267
C1 - 1689-1716
SP - 38
EP - 46
DO - 10.5114/amsik.2021.106014
UR - https://ejournals.eu/czasopismo/amsik/artykul/concentrations-of-volatile-substances-in-costal-cartilage-in-relation-to-blood-and-urine-preliminary-studies
KW - ethanol
KW - acetone
KW - costal cartilage
KW - volatile substance
KW - isopropanol
KW - gas chromatography with a flame ionization detector