Turkiye Klinikleri Journal of Forensic Medicine and Forensic Sciences

.: ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Evaluation of Formic Acid Concentrations in Postmortem Blood Samples Using HS-GC-MS System
HS-GC-MS Sistemi Kullanarak Postmortem Kan Örneklerinde Formik Asit Konsantrasyonlarının Değerlendirilmesi
Orhan DESTANOĞLUa, İsmail ATEŞa
aDepartment of Chemistry, Forensic Medicine Institute (ATK), İstanbul, TURKEY
Turkiye Klinikleri J Foren Sci Leg Med. 2019;16(3):155-63
doi: 10.5336/forensic.2019-66038
Article Language: EN
Full Text
ABSTRACT
 Objective: In this study, we aimed to evaluate the results of formic acid concentrations in positive and control groups of postmortem blood samples obtained from autopsies conducted in the Council of Forensic Medicine, Turkey, between January 2016 and June 2018. Material and Methods: Formic acid concentration was measured as methylformate in the blood samples by performing headspace-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (HS-GC-MS) system. Results: A wide calibration range (0.1-150 mg dL-1, r2= 0.999, internal standard: acetonitrile) was employed for determination of formic acid. LOD and LOQ values were found to be 0.003 mg dL-1 and 0.011 mg dL- 1, respectively. A positive blood sample was spiked and recovery was found to be 102%. After the analyses, the following results were obtained: In positive blood samples (N= 91), formic acid concentration range was found to be 37-141 mg dL-1, while control samples (N= 50) had a range 0.3 - 5.6 mg dL-1. In addition, no correlation was found between methanol and formic acid concentrations in the bloods whereas there was a very high correlation between blood and vitreous humor methanol concentrations, as expected. Conclusion: The most common reason for the deaths from methanol-induced metabolic acidosis is consumption of illicit alcoholic beverages produced in clandestine places and containing high concentration of methanol. In this paper, we present not only HS-GC-MS method for determination of formic acid in postmortem blood samples, but also the key points for evaluation of its results as well.

Keywords: Acidosis; blood; alcoholism; methanol; headspace gas chromatography-mass spectrometry
ÖZET
 Amaç: Biz bu çalışmada, Ocak 2016 ile Haziran 2018 tarihleri arasında Adli Tıp Kurumu'nda yapılan otopsilerden elde edilen pozitif ve kontrol postmortem kan örneği gruplarındaki formik asit konsantrasyonlarının sonuçlarını değerlendirmeyi hedefledik. Gereç ve Yöntemler: Kan örneklerinde formik asit konsantrasyonu metilformat olarak headspace-gaz kromatografi-kütle spektrometri (HS-GC-MS) sistemi ile ölçülmüştür. Bulgular: Formik asit tayini için geniş bir kalibrasyon aralığı (0,1-150 mg dL-1, r2= 0.999, İç standart: asetonitril) kullanıldı. LOD ve LOQ değerleri sırasıyla 0,003 mg dL-1 ve 0.011 mg dL-1 olarak bulunmuştur. Pozitif bir kan örneğine spike işlemi uygulandı ve %102 geri kazanım elde edildi. Pozitif kan örneklerinde (N= 91) formik asit konsantrasyon aralığı 37- 141 mg dL-1 olarak bulunurken kontrol örneklerinde aralık 0,3-5,6 mg dL-1 (N= 50) bulunmuştur. Ayrıca, kan örneklerinde metanol ile formik asit arasında korelasyon kurulamazken kan ile göz içi sıvılarındaki metanol konsantrasyonları arasında beklendiği gibi yüksek korelasyon bulundu. Sonuç: Metanol kaynaklı metabolik asidozdan meydana gelen ölümlerin en yaygın nedeni gizli yerlerde üretilen yüksek konsantasyonda metanol içeren yasadışı içkilerin tüketilmesidir. Biz bu makalede, postmortem kan örneklerinde formik asit tayini için bir HS-GC-MS metodunun yanı sıra formik asit sonuçlarının değerlendirilmesindeki kilit noktaları da sunmaktayız.

Anahtar Kelimeler: Asidoz; kan; alkolizm; metanol; gaz kromatografi-kütle spektrometri
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