The Rapid Determination of Ethanol in Postmortem Brain Samples by Solvent Extraction and Gas Chromatography

STEVEN J. MOORE, ANN C. PORTER,*ANNA E. EZELL, ARTHUR S. HUME AND I. K. HO

Department Of Pharmacology And Toxicology, University Of MississippiMedical Center Jackson, Mississippi 39216-4505
*Mississippi Crime Laboratory,Jackson, Mississippi 39216-4505, U.S.A.

ABSTRACT

   Distillation of brain tissue is a commonly used technique in the determination of brain ethanol concentrations. However, distillation suffers the disadvantages of being both time consuming and cumbersome in the forensic laboratory. In this study, we present a new, rapid method for the determination of ethanol content in brain tissue samples. This method employs solvent extraction with n-butanol and subsequent gas chromatographic analysis using n-propanol as an internal standard. The sensitivity of this technique was found to be similar to that obtained by distillation. The solvent extraction method presented has the advantages of rapidity of assay and ease of quantitation.

Keywovds : Ethanol, Postmortem Brain, Solvent Extraction, Gas Chromatography