Abstract
PurposeSince the solely certain remnants of a performed autopsy are formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) samples, stored in the archives of every institute of legal medicine, we managed to extract molecules of toxicological interest from these specimens.MethodsWe assessed the analysis of ten fresh liver samples collected from heroin-related deaths and then histologically processed the same samples. The embedded blocks were then extracted by means of a new extracting method and the eluates were measured. We also selected five toxicological cases of heroin-related fatalities that were examined 20 years ago, collected the toxicological result documents of the analysis that were carried out at the time and then processed the corresponding FFPE liver samples that were stored in the archives.ResultsWe managed to isolate heroine-related metabolites from 20-year-old paraffin-embedded blocks and calculated ratios to evaluate the performance of our new extraction.ConclusionsAccording to our study, it is feasible to carry out a toxicological examination on old histological samples and, therefore, this matrix can be considered as a new alternative specimen for chemical-analytical evaluations of past cases or when fresh samples are not available anymore. The new extractive method was evaluated as efficient in treating these complex, paraffin-embedded samples. It was surprising that the target compounds could be quantitated from FFPE bocks created as long as 20 years ago.
Highlights
Forensic toxicology is a discipline involved in toxicological problems of forensic relevance
We calculated the ratios of the concentrations of every analyte in the liver samples analyzed by the above standard toxicological analysis to those of the identical analytes measured for the paraffin-embedded samples, which was extracted by our new procedure
Our study focused on the feasibility of an efficient extracting procedure with the purpose of validating a new substrate to provide reliable toxicological data for cases where standard fresh samples were not available anymore, and the only substrates that can be analyzed are formalin-fixed paraffinembedded (FFPE) blocks
Summary
Forensic toxicology is a discipline involved in toxicological problems of forensic relevance. The only substrates that are available for analytical laboratory examinations are formalin-fixed paraffinembedded (FFPE) samples These samples have the great advantage of being stored in aeternum in the archives of each institute of legal medicine or pathology, and the paraffin embedding grants a perfect preservation of the tissues included. These embedded samples have revealed themselves of great value for several analysis; DNA and RNA extractions can be carried out on these samples [6, 7] as well as proteomic studies [8] and western-blot analysis [9]. Toxicological extractions on this type of samples, at this moment, have been attempted in a few cases [10–12], but a valid extractive procedure has not been established yet
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