ORIGINAL ARTICLE   

Minerva Medicolegale 2017 March;137(1):1-6

DOI: 10.23736/S0026-4849.16.01755-7

Copyright © 2016 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: Italian

Teeth as alternative matrix for forensic toxicology analysis: preliminary results of the application of a validated method

Giovanna TASSONI ¹, Roberto CAMERIERE ², Massimiliano ZAMPI ³, Alessandro RINALDELLI ⁴, Francesco MANCINELLI ⁵, Marcello CIPPITELLI ³, Giovanni OTTAVIANI ³, Mariano CINGOLANI ³ ✉

¹ Laboratorio di Chimica Tossicologica Forense e Medicina Forense, Dipartimento di Giurisprudenza, Università degli Studi di Macerata, Macerata, Italia; ² Dipartimento di Medicina Legale Giurisprudenza, Università degli Studi di Macerata, Macerata, Italia; ³ Laboratorio di Chimica Tossicologica Forense e Medicina Forense, Dipartimento di Giurisprudenza, Università degli Studi di Macerata, Macerata, Italia; ⁴ Libero Professionista, Macerata, Italia; ⁵ Libero Professionista, Ancona, Italia

BACKGROUND: In post-mortem forensic toxicology, in conditions in which a body is poorly conserved, because it has been burned, skeletonized, remained a long time in water, or exhumed after a long period, sometimes teeth are the only samples which can be analyzed for useful information. Many substances accumulate in the dental matrix, which can provide much information on the habits of drug of abuse assumption of the person when alive. The aim of this work was to determine the presence of drug of abuse in dental matrix by means a validated method.
METHODS: In this preliminary study pulverized dental materials, were analyzed after acid extraction for cocaine, opiates and their metabolites determination by means a procedure based on gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS). The method was validated with a good linearity between 0.1-2 μg/g for all substances. The limit of detention ranged from 0.03-0.04 ng/mg, while the limit of quantification was 0.1 ng/mg. The method was applied to the analysis of 10 teeth of drug addicts, and 10 non-addicted subjects (control group). In all the samples it has been detected the presence of one, and sometimes more than one drug abuse. All the subjects of the control groups have shown the absence of substances.
RESULTS: The results showed that cocaine, opiates, and their metabolites concentrations were higher than LOQ value.
CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, our data show that teeth can be an alternative matrix for forensic toxicology analysis, especially useful in post-mortem cases.

KEY WORDS: Forensic toxicology - Cocaine - Chromatography, gas - Mass spectrometry - Tooth