A new clean-up approach for stomach content toxicological analysis.

Stomach content is a matrix often applied in post-mortem cases. It is especially important in oral intoxication cases. The main advantages are the usually high concentration of analytes and the lack of biotransformation process.

Comparative Study of Postmortem Concentrations of Antidepressants in Several Different Matrices.

Peripheral blood (PB) is considered to be the golden standard for measuring postmortem drug concentrations. In several cases, PB is however not available, but information regarding drug findings might still be crucial in order to determine the cause of death. Antidepressants are frequently detected in postmortem samples from forensic toxicology cases, but the literature investigating concentrations in other matrices than peripheral and heart blood is limited.

Predominance of alcohol and illicit drugs among traffic accidents fatalities in an urban area of Brazil.

Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of alcohol and illicit drug use among victims of fatal traffic accidents in the Metropolitan Region of Vitória, Brazil, during the period 2011-2012.

Methods: Blood samples were collected and analyzed for the presence of drugs from 391 deceased victims of traffic crashes that occurred in the Metropolitan Region of Vitória, Brazil. The victims included drivers, passengers, and pedestrians.

Lethal poisonings with AH-7921 in combination with other substances.

AH-7921 is a synthetic μ-opioid agonist, approximately equipotent with morphine. We report the death of two young individuals after ingestion of AH-7921 in combination with other psychoactive drugs. In the first case a young man died shortly after ingesting Internet drugs.

A one-step extraction procedure for the screening of cocaine, amphetamines and cannabinoids in postmortem blood samples.

A gas chromatography-mass spectrometric (GC-MS) method was developed and validated for the simultaneous detection and quantification in postmortem whole blood samples of cocaine (COC), amphetamines (AMPs) and cannabis; the main drugs involved in cases of impaired driving in Brazil. The analytes were extracted by solid-phase extraction by means of Bond-Elute Certify cartridges, derivatized with N-methyl-N-(trimethylsilyl)trifluoroacetamide at 80°C for 30 min and analyzed by GC-MS. Linearity ranged from 10 to 500 ng/mL, except for ecgonine methyl ester, for which linearity ranged from 10 to 100 ng/mL.

Simultaneous quantification of cocaine, amphetamines, opiates and cannabinoids in vitreous humor.

A GC-MS method for simultaneous analysis of cocaine (COC), amphetamines (AMPs), opiates, cannabinoids and their metabolites in vitreous humor (VH) was developed and fully validated. VH samples were extracted using solid phase extraction and injected into the GC-MS, using a selected ion monitoring mode. Linearity ranged from 10 to 1000 ng/mL; the exception was anhydroecgonine methyl ester (AEME), for which linearity ranged from 10 to 750 ng/mL.

D1 dopamine and NMDA receptors interactions in the medial prefrontal cortex: modulation of spatial working memory in rats.

Dopamine (DA) and N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors seem to be critically involved in working memory processing in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). Effects of NMDA receptors blockade on dopamine D1 receptors activation in the mPFC on spatial working memory was investigated. Adult male Wistar rats, well trained in an eight-arm radial maze and bilaterally cannulated in the mPFC, received intracortical administrations of saline (SAL) or SKF-38393 (DA D1 receptor agonist) followed, 10 min later, by MK-801 (non-competitive NMDA receptor antagonist).