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PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:dateCreated
2009-5-26
pubmed:abstractText
We reported previously that blood levels of nicotine in suicidal smokers tend to be significantly higher than those in non-suicidal smokers, and blood level of nicotine seems to be a useful criterion for discriminating suicide from other types of death. In this paper, we report nicotine and cotinine levels in various tissues of an adipocere body found in the sea. The cause of death was drowning, and the postmortem time interval was approximately 5 months at autopsy. His driver's license was concealed in his sock, which seemed to suggest that he committed to suicide. In toxicological analysis by gas chromatography, nicotine and cotinine in the femoral muscle were detected at concentrations of 213 and 488 ng/g, respectively, and these substances were also detected in the brain, liver and kidney. For evaluating the tissue levels of nicotine and cotinine in the adipocere body, we analyzed these levels in blood and various tissues of 13 autopsy cases of smokers. Nicotine and cotinine levels in blood were the most similar to those in skeletal muscle. Although the postmortem time interval, the formation process of adipocere and the environmental condition in water may affect nicotine and cotinine levels in the femoral muscle, the high muscle level of nicotine in the present case seem to implicate suicidal death.
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:chemical
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Apr
pubmed:issn
1873-4162
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Electronic
pubmed:volume
11 Suppl 1
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
S565-7
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed-meshheading:19303346-Adult, pubmed-meshheading:19303346-Brain Chemistry, pubmed-meshheading:19303346-Chromatography, Gas, pubmed-meshheading:19303346-Cotinine, pubmed-meshheading:19303346-Diatoms, pubmed-meshheading:19303346-Drowning, pubmed-meshheading:19303346-Forensic Pathology, pubmed-meshheading:19303346-Forensic Toxicology, pubmed-meshheading:19303346-Ganglionic Stimulants, pubmed-meshheading:19303346-Humans, pubmed-meshheading:19303346-Indicators and Reagents, pubmed-meshheading:19303346-Kidney, pubmed-meshheading:19303346-Liver, pubmed-meshheading:19303346-Lung, pubmed-meshheading:19303346-Male, pubmed-meshheading:19303346-Muscle, Skeletal, pubmed-meshheading:19303346-Nicotine, pubmed-meshheading:19303346-Postmortem Changes, pubmed-meshheading:19303346-Seawater, pubmed-meshheading:19303346-Suicide
pubmed:year
2009
pubmed:articleTitle
Forensic implication of muscle level of nicotine in an adipocere body found in the sea.
pubmed:affiliation
Department of Legal Medicine, Kochi Medical School, Kochi University, Kohasu, Oko-cho, Nankoku City, Kochi 783-8505, Japan. hnishimura@kochi-u.ac.jp
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article, Case Reports