Abstract:
Recently, methamphetamine-related death cases have increased. That is the
reason why there is an increasing interest in the determination of methamphetamine in
formalin-fixed tissues. This study compared three extraction methods for
methamphetamine in acetate formalin solution and pig liver. The highest recoveries of
methamphetamine were seen for the solid phase extraction method in comparison with
the back extraction and double extraction methods. The stability study was performed
by adding known amounts of methamphetamine to the acetate formalin solution,
storing at room temperature for different fixation periods (0, 1, 3, 7, 14, 28 and 42
days) and analyzing by GC-NPD. The results show that methamphetamine
concentrations significantly decreased when compared with the initial day (p≤0.001).
Moreover, methamphetamine in formalin-fixed liver samples from three cases of
methamphetamine poisoning was quantitatively detected. An additional study of
methamphetamine in formalin-fixed organ tissues in vitro was performed by
methamphetamine injection into pieces of human organs and fixed with acetate
formalin solution for six different fixation periods (0, 1, 3, 7, 14 and 28 days). There
was a significant decrease in the concentrations of methamphetamine in formalin-fixed
organs compared with the initial days (p≤0.001), which revealed that portions of fixed
organ tissues methamphetamine had been released into acetate formalin solution