Postmortem Fluid Concentrations of Heroin Biomarkers and Their Metabolites

Abstract

Only limited data exist concerning the utility of complementary specimens in heroin-related deaths. As such, this report employed a validated LC-MS-MS method to quantify 6-monoacetylmorphine (6-MAM), 6-acetylcodeine (6-AC), and their metabolites morphine and codeine in blood with (BN) and without preservative (B) and the additional unpreserved specimens of vitreous humor, urine, stomach contents, and bile from 20 postmortem cases in which heroin was the primary cause of death. The median concentration of 6-MAM in BN was 0.011 mg/L, B was 0.008 mg/L, urine was 0.186 mg/L, vitreous humor was 0.022 mg/L, stomach contents was 0.147 mg/L, and bile was 0.012 mg/L. Only one case was found to be positive for 6-AC in B (case 6, 0.002 mg/L), and the median concentration of 6-AC was 0.002 mg/L in BN, 0.012 mg/L in urine, 0.003 mg/L in vitreous humor, 0.057 mg/L in stomach contents, and 0.004 mg/L in bile. These findings present new information on the distribution of these analytes in complementary matrices and support their inclusion for accurately determining the role of heroin in opioid-related deaths.