Determination of whether toxins were present in a corpse is impossible in the case of severely decomposed bodies devoid of intoxicated tissue and bodily fluids. The current study aimed to evaluate the use of insects as alternate toxicological specimens. Ten rats were used and the oral LD50 of clonazepam (4 g/kg) was gavaged for each rat. Blood was drawn from each rat before and after death. Five liver specimens were taken after death from each rat at the end of the first, second; third, fourth and seventh hours. The dead rats were left to be decomposed at room temperature. Insect larvae sampling were taken from each decomposed rat at the end of the seventh day. All specimens were preserved with sodium fluoride and stored frozen till toxicological analysis. Each 1 ml blood or 1gm of homogenized liver or larvae was analyzed for detection and quantification of clonazepam. The average of clonazepam blood concentration before death was 5.89µg/ml and after death was 5.97µg/ml, which was nearly the same. The average concentration of liver clonazepam showed progressive increase from 9.15µg/ml at the first hour after death to a maximum of 13.1µg/ml at the seventh hour. The average concentration of larvae clonazepam was 16.8µg/ml, which was more than that of blood and liver indicating absorption of clonazepam and distribution into the larvae during feeding on body fluids and tissues. Thus, insects are useful as alternative toxicological samples when toxicological tissue samples are no longer available, to detect and quantify toxins as a cause of death in the severely decomposed corps on which the insects are feeding. |
