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Published on: July 11, 2014
Analysis of metformin in antemortem serum and postmortem specimens by a novel HPLC method and application to an
Karla A Moore1, Barry Levine, Jack M Titus
1Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, State of Maryland, 111 Penn Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21201, USA.
Abstract:
A case of intoxication from the oral hypoglycemic drug metformin is presented. A number of published liquid chromatographic methods were combined to enable a simplified analysis of metformin in both antemortem and postmortem specimens. The method involved direct injection of a protein-free filtrate into the liquid chromatograph. The method was sufficiently sensitive to detect therapeutic use of metformin; no common therapeutic or abused drugs interfered with the assay. In the presented case, the hospital admission serum metformin concentration was 141 mg/L, or approximately two orders of magnitude above therapeutic concentrations. The medical examiner concluded that the cause of death in this case was metformin intoxication, and the manner of death was suicide.
