Measurement of ethyl glucuronide in vitreous humor with liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry

It is important to detect alcohol intake in postmortem investigations. However it can be difficult to interpret the results of alcohol analysis in putrefied corpses. To avoid this difficulty, there have been studies on detection of ethyl glucuronide (EtG), a non-oxidative metabolite of ethyl alcohol. The aim of this study was investigate EtG levels in vitreous humor (VH), a valuable material in postmortem investigations, and to compare VH EtG levels with blood and urine EtG levels.

Blood, urine and VH specimens were collected from 110 cases. Twenty-four cases in which ethyl alcohol was detected were included in the study. Although ethanol could not be detected, one case was added after having positive results of EtG levels in urine and VH as if he was claimed that he was an alcoholic and he had taken alcohol when he died but it could not be detected after 6 days of hospitalization. Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry was used to investigate EtG in blood, urine and VH specimens from 25 cases.

VH EtG was in measurable amounts in 19 cases (n: 25). In fact, VH EtG levels ranged from 0.05 to 1.90 mg/L and were below the limit of detection (LOD is 0.03 mg/L) in six cases (n: 25). Blood EtG was in measurable amounts in 21 cases (n: 25). Blood EtG levels ranged from 0.64 to 5.82 mg/L and were below the limit of detection (LOD is 0.083 mg/L) in four cases. EtG was detected in urine in 17 cases (n: 19). Urine EtG levels ranged from 0.25 to 623 mg/L and were below the limit of detection (LOD is 0.12 mg/L) in one case. There was a significant relation between VH EtG levels and blood and urine EtG levels. The results of the study showed that postmortem VH EtG can be measured to reveal alcohol intake.