Browse the latest forensic toxicology articles or search the collection.
-
Vitreous 6-MAM in a Suspected Heroin Death: Drug Identification Was Different From Proving Overdose
One laboratory case reported vitreous 6-MAM of 42 ng/mL with morphine and codeine in blood and vitreous. The added heroin-metabolite finding supported exposure identification, but did not establish a universal fatal concentration or precise intake time.
-
Morphine Testing After Preservation Treatment: What a Vitreous Result Added to Questionable Autopsy Blood
After preservation treatment preceded autopsy, a hospital-death investigation yielded morphine of 1034 ng/mL in blood and 374 ng/mL in vitreous. The second matrix added evidence but did not validate the altered blood or quantify treatment-related change.
-
Blood Ethanol of 2.8 g/L but Vitreous of 0.3 g/L: Why a Gunshot Case Required More Than a Conversion Factor
A laboratory received markedly discordant blood and vitreous ethanol findings before learning that the death involved a firearm. The discrepancy prompted a specimen-source question; it did not establish a universal blood correction or prove gastric rupture.
-
Higher Spontaneous Movement but Less Amphetamine Hyperlocomotion: Reading a PD149163 Rat Experiment
In 32 rats, repeated PD149163 treatment produced higher spontaneous movement than saline by day eight but still reduced amphetamine-related ambulation on day nine. Different movement measures and controls change the interpretation.
-
Can Plasma Amphetamine Predict Brain Dopamine? What an Animal PK–PD Model Actually Established
A 2019 model linked dextroamphetamine exposure to striatal dopamine in rats and monkeys. Sparse sampling, repeated observations from one monkey and uncertain feedback estimates limit individual human predictions.
-
Carbamazepine Blood-Site Ratios Near One: What Four Paired Autopsies Did Not Prove About Redistribution
Four carbamazepine pairs had a mean central/femoral ratio of 0.97. Both specimens were postmortem, and the central sample came from the inferior vena cava, so the result did not prove unchanged concentrations from life to death.
-
Carbamazepine Detected in Bone Did Not Establish an Overdose: The Actual Case Behind a 2022 Study
Despite an overdose-focused title, the bone study’s authentic case had blood carbamazepine of 3750 ng/mL and probable ischemic heart disease. One bone–blood pair did not validate a toxicity cutoff or conversion.
-
Measuring Carbamazepine in Rib Bone: What the GC–MS Validation Demonstrated
A rib-bone method reported carbamazepine detection below 0.1 ng/mg and quantitation at 0.3 ng/mg. Its response-ratio approach, calibration units and validation inconsistencies need to accompany the numerical findings.
-
Mixed Caffeine and Methamphetamine Toxicity: What the Autopsy Could Establish About Drug Interaction
One death was attributed to combined caffeine and methamphetamine toxicity despite no specific diagnostic lesion. The case supported an integrated causal assessment, but did not measure synergy or establish each drug’s share of the outcome.
-
Caffeine at 180 mg/L in Hospital Blood: Why a Body-Burden Estimate Was Not a Tablet Count
A fatality report used antemortem blood and an assumed distribution volume to estimate caffeine body burden. Avoiding postmortem redistribution did not validate the original dose or resolve a discrepancy with the reported eight tablets.
-
Oral Amphetamine and Locomotor Tolerance: What a 66-Rat Experiment Actually Compared
After 20 oral doses, rats showed less locomotor stimulation at the two higher doses tested. The study had no injection comparison or measured plasma concentrations, limiting claims about route and human addiction risk.
-
Can Amphetamine Tolerance Differ Between Learning New Rules and Performing Familiar Ones?
A 1979 four-pigeon experiment compared changing discrimination rules with a familiar task in the same sessions. Tolerance depended on the behavioral endpoint, and reduced errors did not always mean normal learning or speed.
-
Can Methamphetamine Tolerance Coexist With Persistent Dopamine-Transporter Changes?
A 2012 rat study found persistent changes in dopamine-transporter function while prior self-administration reduced several effects of a later high-dose challenge. Tolerance and biological alteration were compatible findings.
-
Did Methamphetamine “Self-Vaccination” Mean Protection? What a Rat Antibody Study Found
A 2007 rat study found antibodies against methamphetamine-modified proteins and changes in circulating immune signals. Those findings did not demonstrate a protective vaccine or establish the cause of human cardiovascular disease.
-
Postmortem Bilirubin Testing: Why Correlation Did Not Make Serum and Pericardial Fluid Interchangeable
In 37 autopsies with emergency-department bilirubin results, cardiac serum correlated with the earlier result but missed three of six elevations. Pericardial fluid was lower and did not distinguish the three cirrhosis cases from controls.
-
Nitrous Oxide in Living Drivers: Why 52 Positive Blood Samples Do Not Supply an Autopsy Threshold
A Danish study calculated nitrous oxide concentrations but reported cases qualitatively because preanalytical losses were unknown. Its 52 positive living-driver specimens cannot validate a postmortem conversion or a fatal concentration boundary.
-
Nitrous Oxide in Two Autopsies: Carbon Dioxide Interference, Blood Quantification and Tissue Limits
A two-fatality application of HS-GC–MS measured nitrous oxide in heart blood after addressing carbon dioxide interference. Blood validation did not turn qualitative tissue findings into concentrations or establish a universal fatal threshold.
-
Does ERK Activation Prove Amphetamine Addiction? What Signaling Experiments Actually Measure
A historical review linked ERK signaling to selected amphetamine and methamphetamine responses in animals. Molecular activation, motor behavior and learned drug associations were different endpoints, with different limits.
-
THC-COOH in Chest-Cavity Fluid After Death: What a 15-Case Study Can Establish
THC-COOH was measured in chest-cavity fluid from 15 selected autopsies, including decomposed cases. Mixed specimen origins, different hydrolysis procedures and uncertain postmortem changes prevent a simple blood conversion or impairment inference.
-
Postmortem Bile LC–MS/MS: Dilution and Analyte Limits in a 108-Target Method
A bile LC–MS/MS study reduced matrix effects with 1:100 dilution, but buprenorphine and THC-COOH remained problematic. Its 13-case application and frozen-control stability findings need their original analytical limits.