Forensic Toxicology
1
• Forensic Toxicology is used to help establish cause and effect
relationships between exposure to a drug or chemical and the toxic or
lethal effects that result from that exposure
• Establishing the cause of death and interpreting its circumstances in post-
mortem investigation
• Forensic Toxicology talks about to the application of conventional
toxicology for the purposes of the Criminal Investigation to assist legal
administration.
• Primarily concerned with the medico - legal characteristics
• The application of toxicology for the purposes of the law.
• Greeks used hemlock as a means of state sponsored execution. Socrates was
the most famous poisoning case by this method.
• In the U.S., forensic toxicology did not develop until the early 20th century.
• Dr. Alexander Gettler is considered this country’s first forensic toxicologist.
– Postmortem forensic toxicology.
– Human performance toxicology.
– Forensic drug testing.
Forensic toxicology…
Drug intoxications are not readily diagnosed at autopsy.
In IV drug deaths, there may be a recent injection site observable; oral
intoxications may be inferred by a large amount of unabsorbed tablet
fragments in the stomach contents.
Anatomic findings are pulmonary congestion and edema.
The function of the toxicology laboratory is to identify the substances
present in the biologic specimens.
They are quantitated in appropriate specimens to determine whether
these drugs caused or contributed to death.
Postmortem Forensic Toxicology
Suspected drug intoxication cases
Homicide
Arson fire deaths
Motor vehicle fatalities
Deaths due to natural causes
Death Investigations
– Coroner
– Medical Examiner
Postmortem Forensic Toxicology
• Specimens
– Blood – from the heart and from the femoral or jugular
veins
– Vitreous humor
– Urine
– Bile
– Liver
– Other – lung, spleen, stomach contents or brain
Postmortem Forensic Toxicology
• Approximately 50-100 mL of blood should be collected.
• Blood from subdural or epidural clots should also be collected.
• These specimens could be useful when there is some period between an
event and death.
• Vitreous humor displays good stability and resides in an anatomically
isolated area.
– it is more resistant to putrefactive changes than are other specimens.
Postmortem Forensic Toxicology…
Analytical Process
• Separation
• Identification
• Confirmation
• Quantitation
• Except for some drug classes that can be analyzed directly in urine specimens, the analytes
of interest usually require separation from the biological matrix.
• For example, volatile substances can be separated from an aqueous matrix by heating the
specimen in a sealed container at 60-80oC.
• The gaseous phase above the matrix layer will contain volatile substances which can be
sampled and analyzed.
Human Performance Toxicology
• This branch of forensic toxicology is concerned with the relationship between the
presence of a drug and associated behavioral changes.
• It is generally accepted that there is a dose-effect relationship between drugs that
elicit behavioral changes and those changes; elucidation and quantification of such a
relationship is a significant role of the behavioral toxicologist.
• Human performance toxicology is also referred to as behavioral toxicology.
• E.g Ethanol and driving
Breath Ethanol Testing
Chemical
Reaction of ethanol with potassium dichromate/sulfuric acid solution
Oxidation reaction with a color change from yellow (dichromate ion) to green
(chromic ion)
IR Spectrophotometry
• Based on absorbance of light by the ethanol molecule
• Mainstay in evidential breath testing devices
Electrochemical Oxidation
• Oxidation of ethanol to acetic acid
• Also used in evidential breath testing
Immunoassay
• Has the ability to determine small
concentrations of drugs in body fluids
and organs
• Best approach for detecting low drug
levels in body
• Usually used for marijuana screening
Color Tests
• Most drugs react with certain chemicals to
produce a specific color
• Marquis: purple in heroine, opium. Orange
brown in (meth)amphetamines
• Dilli-Kopanyi: violet in barbiturates
• Duquenois-Levine: purple for marijuana
• Van Urk: blue purple in LSD
• Scott test: blue, pink and blue for cocaine
Microcrystalline tests
• A small drop of a chemical is added to a
small amount of drug which forms a
crystalline structure
• Size and shape of crystal can be used to
identify drug
Spectrophotometry
• Identifies drug on based on the type of light
it absorbs
• Infrared spectrophotometry can identify a
specific drug because infrared spectrum is
unique for all drugs
• Other types of spectrophotometry are
sometimes inconclusive
