Utilizing the urinary 5-HTOL/5-HIAA ratio to determine ethanol origin in civil aviation accident victims

Publish With ASTM

Book Guide
Journals

Site Map

Online Support

Site Search

Subscriptions/Pricing

Digital Library/Journal of Forensic Sciences/

Utilizing the urinary 5-HTOL/5-HIAA ratio to determine ethanol origin in civil aviation accident victims Johnson RD, Lewis RJ, Canfield DV, Dubowski KM, Blank CL
Download this paper for $25 PDF (92K) View License Agreement Source: JFS (March 2005)

Abstract
Specimens from fatal aviation accident victims are submitted to the FAA Civil Aerospace Medical Institute for toxicological analysis. During toxicological evaluations, ethanol analysis is performed on all cases. Care must be taken when interpreting a positive ethanol result due to the potential for postmortem ethanol formation. Several indicators of postmortem ethanol formation exist; however, none are completely reliable. The consumption of ethanol has been shown to alter the concentration of two major serotonin metabolites, 5-hydroxytryptophol (5-HTOL) and 5-hydroxyindole-3-acetic acid (5-HIAA). While the 5-HTOL/5-HIAA ratio is normally very low, previous studies using living subjects have demonstrated that the urinary 5-HTOL/5-HIAA ratio is significantly elevated for 11–19 h after acute ethanol ingestion. Recently, our laboratory developed and validated an analytical method for the simultaneous determination of both 5-HTOL and 5-HIAA in forensic urine samples using a simple liquid/liquid extraction and LC/MS/MS and LC/MS/MS/MS. In this previous work a 15 pmol/nmol serotonin metabolite ratio cutoff was established in postmortem urine, below which it could be conclusively determined that no recent antemortem ethanol consumption had occurred. In the current study this newly validated analytical method was applied to five ethanol-positive aviation fatalities where the origin of the ethanol present could not previously be conclusively determined. In four of the five cases examined the detected ethanol was demonstrated to be present due to postmortem microbial formation, and not consumption, even though some indication of ethanol consumption may have been present.

Keywords:
5-HTOL/5-HIAA, forensic science, LC/MS, postmortem ethanol, serotonin
ISSN: 0022-1198
Paper ID: JFS2004346
DOI: 10.1520/JFS2004346

ASTM International is a member of CrossRef.
Author Johnson RD, Lewis RJ, Canfield DV, Dubowski KM, Blank CL Title Utilizing the urinary 5-HTOL/5-HIAA ratio to determine ethanol origin in civil aviation accident victims Symposium , Committee on

Site Map | Online Support | Contact | Privacy Policy | IP Policy