Analysis of Strychnine and Brucine in Postmortem Specimens by RP-HPLC: A Case Report of Fatal Intoxication

摘要

A sensitive method for the identification and quantitation of the toxic alkaloids strychnine and brucine from postmortem specimens has been established. After solid-phase extraction using Oasis- MCX cartridges the extracts were analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography with diode array detection. The limit of detection is 0.5ng/mL blood for strychnine and brucine and the limit of quantitation is 5ng/mL blood for strychnine and brucine. The method was applied for the analysis of blood and gastric contents of a 34-year-old female who died after ingestion of a packet of herbal medicine powder containing the seeds of Strychnos nux-vomica L. Strychnine and brucine were detected in all the samples. The concentration in our case is consistent with that in previous reports.