A pilot study on post-mortem determination of drug abuse on dental tissues.

Cocaine Forensic odontology Forensic toxicology High-resolution mass spectrometry Opioids Ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography

Journal

Forensic science international
ISSN: 1872-6283
Titre abrégé: Forensic Sci Int
Pays: Ireland
ID NLM: 7902034

Informations de publication

Date de publication:
05 Aug 2024
Historique:
received: 20 03 2024
revised: 22 07 2024
accepted: 04 08 2024
medline: 17 8 2024
pubmed: 17 8 2024
entrez: 16 8 2024
Statut: aheadofprint

Résumé

Post-mortem toxicology constantly deals with the research of reliable alternative matrices to be applied in case of highly damaged corpses (such us carbonized, skeletonized, human remains, etc.). Teeth represent a promising alternative matrix since dental tissues are endowed by different features, resistance and stability after death. Since scant literature reported on the pharmacokinetics and mechanism of incorporation of xenobiotics into dental tissues, this pilot research aims to investigate whether in the pulp can be detected the same substances found in blood in drug related death cases. Secondly, the study is addressed to disclose the possible deposit of drugs in dental hard tissues (dentine and/or enamel), thus contributing to reconstruct the drug abuse history (timing, e.g.). The study experimented with a novel method to separately analyse dental enamel, dentin, and pulp, applied to 10 teeth collected during autopsies of drug-related deaths along with blood and hair samples for classic toxicological analyses. Each tooth was prepared by "pulverization technique" and then analysed by gas chromatography paired with mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and ultra high performance liquid chromatography coupled to high resolution mass spectrometry (UHPLC/HR-MS) for searching cocaine, opiates, and metabolites. The results were then compared with those obtained from blood and hair samples. Preliminary results demonstrated that teeth differ from any other classic matrix (blood and hairs) since the qualitative correspondence of the detected substances between pulp and blood as well as dental hard tissues and hair suggests that they can be useful in post-mortem evaluation as a unique matrix for both acute and chronic assumptions of drugs. The mechanism of accumulation of substances in mineralized dental tissues emerged the most significant result, being influenced by the type of molecule and the method of assumption. The main limitation of this study is the limited availability of the sample and the absence of anamnestic information of the time, rates and method of drug assumption during life. Further research is necessary to systematically investigate the distribution of different substances within the different tissues of the tooth.

Sections du résumé

BACKGROUND BACKGROUND
Post-mortem toxicology constantly deals with the research of reliable alternative matrices to be applied in case of highly damaged corpses (such us carbonized, skeletonized, human remains, etc.). Teeth represent a promising alternative matrix since dental tissues are endowed by different features, resistance and stability after death.
SCOPE METHODS
Since scant literature reported on the pharmacokinetics and mechanism of incorporation of xenobiotics into dental tissues, this pilot research aims to investigate whether in the pulp can be detected the same substances found in blood in drug related death cases. Secondly, the study is addressed to disclose the possible deposit of drugs in dental hard tissues (dentine and/or enamel), thus contributing to reconstruct the drug abuse history (timing, e.g.).
MATERIALS AND METHODS METHODS
The study experimented with a novel method to separately analyse dental enamel, dentin, and pulp, applied to 10 teeth collected during autopsies of drug-related deaths along with blood and hair samples for classic toxicological analyses. Each tooth was prepared by "pulverization technique" and then analysed by gas chromatography paired with mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and ultra high performance liquid chromatography coupled to high resolution mass spectrometry (UHPLC/HR-MS) for searching cocaine, opiates, and metabolites. The results were then compared with those obtained from blood and hair samples.
RESULTS RESULTS
Preliminary results demonstrated that teeth differ from any other classic matrix (blood and hairs) since the qualitative correspondence of the detected substances between pulp and blood as well as dental hard tissues and hair suggests that they can be useful in post-mortem evaluation as a unique matrix for both acute and chronic assumptions of drugs. The mechanism of accumulation of substances in mineralized dental tissues emerged the most significant result, being influenced by the type of molecule and the method of assumption. The main limitation of this study is the limited availability of the sample and the absence of anamnestic information of the time, rates and method of drug assumption during life. Further research is necessary to systematically investigate the distribution of different substances within the different tissues of the tooth.

Identifiants

DOI: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2024.112185 PMID: 39151241
pubmed: 39151241
pii: S0379-0738(24)00266-4
doi: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2024.112185
pii:
doi:

Types de publication

Journal Article

Langues

eng

Sous-ensembles de citation

IM

Pagination

112185

Informations de copyright

Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Auteurs

Ilenia Bianchi (I)

Forensic Medical Sciences, Department of Health Science, University of Florence, Largo Brambilla 3, Florence 50134, Italy; Laboratory of Personal Identification and Forensic Morphology, Department of Health Sciences, University of Florence, Largo Brambilla 3, Florence 50134, Italy. Electronic address: ilenia.bianchi@unifi.it.

Marta Cippitelli (M)

Forensic Medicine and Laboratory (For. Med. Lab), Institute of Legal Medicine, University of Macerata, Via Don Minzoni 9, Macerata 62100, Italy. Electronic address: cippitelli.marta@gmail.com.

Erika Buratti (E)

Forensic Medicine and Laboratory (For. Med. Lab), Institute of Legal Medicine, University of Macerata, Via Don Minzoni 9, Macerata 62100, Italy. Electronic address: burattierika@gmail.com.

Alice Cerioni (A)

Forensic Medicine and Laboratory (For. Med. Lab), Institute of Legal Medicine, University of Macerata, Via Don Minzoni 9, Macerata 62100, Italy. Electronic address: alice.cerioni@libero.it.

Gianmario Mietti (G)

Forensic Medicine and Laboratory (For. Med. Lab), Institute of Legal Medicine, University of Macerata, Via Don Minzoni 9, Macerata 62100, Italy. Electronic address: gianmario.mietti@gmail.com.

Martina Focardi (M)

Forensic Medical Sciences, Department of Health Science, University of Florence, Largo Brambilla 3, Florence 50134, Italy; Laboratory of Personal Identification and Forensic Morphology, Department of Health Sciences, University of Florence, Largo Brambilla 3, Florence 50134, Italy. Electronic address: martina.focardi@gmail.com.

Rossella Grifoni (R)

Forensic Medical Sciences, Department of Health Science, University of Florence, Largo Brambilla 3, Florence 50134, Italy; Laboratory of Personal Identification and Forensic Morphology, Department of Health Sciences, University of Florence, Largo Brambilla 3, Florence 50134, Italy. Electronic address: rossella.grifoni@gmail.com.

Roberto Scendoni (R)

Forensic Medicine and Laboratory (For. Med. Lab), Institute of Legal Medicine, University of Macerata, Via Don Minzoni 9, Macerata 62100, Italy. Electronic address: r.scendoni@unimc.it.

Rino Froldi (R)

Forensic Medicine and Laboratory (For. Med. Lab), Institute of Legal Medicine, University of Macerata, Via Don Minzoni 9, Macerata 62100, Italy. Electronic address: rino.froldi@unimc.it.

Mariano Cingolani (M)

Forensic Medicine and Laboratory (For. Med. Lab), Institute of Legal Medicine, University of Macerata, Via Don Minzoni 9, Macerata 62100, Italy. Electronic address: mariano.cingolani@unimc.it.

Vilma Pinchi (V)

Forensic Medical Sciences, Department of Health Science, University of Florence, Largo Brambilla 3, Florence 50134, Italy; Laboratory of Personal Identification and Forensic Morphology, Department of Health Sciences, University of Florence, Largo Brambilla 3, Florence 50134, Italy. Electronic address: vilma.pinchi@unifi.it.

Classifications MeSH