Distribución postmortem del acetato y etanol en cadáveres humanos tras el consumo de etanol y drogas de abuso

• Autores: Eloy Girela López, Pilar Irigoyen Reyes, Claudio Hernández Cueto, Juan de Dios Luna del Castillo , Enrique Villanueva Cañadas
• Localización: Actualidad médica, ISSN 0365-7965, T. 97, Nº. 787, 2012, págs. 16-20
• Idioma: español
• Títulos paralelos:
  • Postmortem distributiom of acetate and ethanol in human cadavers after ethanol and drug abuse consumption
• Enlaces
  • Texto completo
• Resumen
  • español

    Introducción:

    Este artículo evalúa el valor del acetato como marcador del consumo de etanol en muestras postmortem.

    Material y métodos:

    Se analizó la concentración y distribución de etanol y acetato en diversos fluidos (sangre periférica, humor vítreo, líquido pericárdico y orina) y tejidos (cerebro, pulmones, hígado y riñones) en 98 cadáveres procedentes de autopsias judiciales.

    Resultados:

    La presencia de etanol fue la variable más significativa en relación al aumento de los niveles de acetato en la mayoría de las muestras (p<0.0001), excepto en orina y cerebro. Además, la presencia de drogas de abuso reflejó un aumento especialmente significativo de los niveles de acetato en los pulmones y líquido pericárdico (p<0.0001).

    Conclusiones:

    Las altas concentraciones de acetato en sangre y en hígado, y especialmente la ratio acetato en cerebro/ acetato en sangre <2 y acetato en riñón/ acetato en sangre <2.5, fueron características del consumo de etanol.

  • English

    Introduction:

    This paper assesses the value of acetate as a marker of ethanol consumption in post-mortem samples.

    Materials and methods:

    Ethanol and acetate concentration and distribution in several fluids (peripheral blood, vitreous humour, pericardial fluid and urine) and tissues (brain, lungs, liver and kidneys) were studied in 98 cadavers from routine medico-legal autopsies.

    Results:

    Presence of ethanol was the most significant variable related to the increase in acetate levels in most specimens (p<0.0001), except for urine and brain. Furthermore, presence of drugs of abuse showed a particularly significant increase of acetate levels in lungs and pericardial fluid (p< 0.0001).

    Conclusions:

    These preliminary results showed that high concentrations of acetate in blood and liver, but particularly Brain Acetate/Blood Acetate ratios < 2 and Kidney Acetate/Blood Acetate ratios < 2.5, were characteristic of ethanol consumption.

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