The postmortem distribution of ketone bodies between blood, vitreous humor, spinal fluid, and urine

The distribution of the ketone bodies: acetone, acetoacetate, and D-beta-hydroxybutyrate, between blood, vitreous humor, spinal fluid, and urine was examined in 105 medico-legal autopsies. The ketone body concentration in the body fluids was determinated by head-space gas chromatography. The correlation between blood and the body fluids could be described with regression lines on the logarithmic-transformed results. The correlation is dependent on the ketone body concentration. The ketone bodies in spinal fluid show the best correlation to blood, followed by vitreous humor, and last urine. The concentration dependence in spinal fluid is mainly due to ketone bodies being metabolized in the brain. The human brain utilizes ketone bodies during normal nutritional state. In vitreous humor, the dependence is mainly due to protein bindings of acetoacetate and beta-hydroxybutyrate in blood and the difference in dry matter between blood and vitreous humor.