Forensic Toxicology

Question 1

What is toxicology?

Answer 1

The study of drugs and chemicals on biological systems

Question 2

what is forensic toxicology?

Answer 2

Application of toxicology to cases and issues where adverse effects of the use of impairing, toxic, and lethal concentrations of drugs have adminsitrative or medicolegal consequences

science+law

Question 3

What areas may forensic toxicologists work in

Answer 3

Medical examiner labs
Crime labs
military/ government facilities
Private sector facilities
Hospitals
Universities
Industries

Question 4

What is the largest lab for forensic toxicology?

Answer 4

NMS

Did tox for OJ, michael jackson, jon bent, etc.

Question 5

Pharmacology defined

Answer 5

study of the effects of drugs on humans

Question 6

Drug defined

Answer 6

chemical designed to have a biochemical or physiological effect

Question 7

poison defined

Answer 7

Substance with life-threatening effect

Question 8

metabolite defined

Answer 8

Chemically changed form of drug or poison

Question 9

Pharmacokinetics

Answer 9

Branch of pharmacology concerned with the movement of drugs throughout the body

What the body does to the drug

Question 10

Pharmacodynamics

Answer 10

Study of how drugs act in the body

What the drug does to the body

Question 11

What does “ADME” stand for?

Answer 11

Absoprtion, distribution, metabolism, excretion

descrobes the dispotition of a pharmaceutical compound with an organizm

all influence the drug levels and kinetics of drug exposure to the tissues

influence the performance and pharmacological activity of the compound of a drug

Question 12

Absorption

Answer 12

process of a drug being put into the body

Small intestine

Stomach: more acidic absorption

Question 13

Distribution

Answer 13

drugs making their way through the body

Question 14

Metabolism

Answer 14

transferring drugs to a hydrophilic state in order to rid them of the body

Question 15

Excretion

Answer 15

drugs are no longer in the body, the process in which drugs leave the body

Question 16

What does a postmortem forensic toxicologist do?

Answer 16

Death investigation
Goal: were drugs the cause or contributing factor in death?
Forensic pathologist
Explain what caused each death
Determine manner of death
MASH
Forensic toxicologist
Assists by performing comprehensive analyses of a wide variety of toxins from a wide variety of tissue sources
Usually done with blood, urine, SPF, bile

Question 17

What are the three main areas of forensic tox?

Answer 17

postmortem forensic toxicology

forensic drug toxicology

human performance tox

Question 18

forensic drug toxicology

Answer 18

Workplace drug testing
Testing urine/ blood (biofluids) from employees or job applicants
Law usually allows for random drug testing only if they have certain occupatoins
Teachers
Customs
Police officers
Typically allowed when public safety is above the right to privacy
Record keeping, CoC, data management, all extremely important here
compliance monitoring
doping

Question 19

Human performance toxicology

Answer 19

Drug and steroid use in sports
Effects of drugs and alcohol on human performance and behavior
Involved in an array of criminal investigations:
Impaired driving
Vehicular assault/ homicide
Child custody/ abuse
Drug-facilitated crimes (ex: sexual assault)
Mainly blood and urine samples

Question 20

How is tox performed?

Answer 20

Isolation

Detection and Characterization (screening)

Identification

Quantification

Interpretation

Question 21

Isoloation defined

Answer 21

Isolate from the matrix (blood, urine, etc.)

Question 22

Detection and characterization (screening)

Answer 22

Compare with quality controls and drug libraries

Question 23

Identification defined

Answer 23

See what is present and then screen against other things

Question 24

Quantification defined

Answer 24

Seeing how much was present in the sample

Question 25

Interpretation

Answer 25

what it sounds like

Question 26

What do opiates do?

Answer 26

Depressant

Reduces muscle activity and slows heartrate

Overdoses are super common because of how it messes with your breathing

Narcotic drugs derived from the opium plant

Causes profound euphoria

Relieves pain

Question 27

Examples of opiates

Answer 27

Morphine
Codeine
Herion
Fentnyl

Question 28

What do amphetamines do?

Answer 28

Stimulant

creates an excitatory condition, state of wakefulness, euphoria

Methamphetamine
- Synthesized easily by clandestine labs
- Starts with ephedrine (government limited the sale)

Question 29

examples of amphetamines

Answer 29

meth

Question 30

Cocaine

Answer 30

Derived from erythroxylin cocoa plant

Creates excitatory condition, state of wakefulness, and euphoria

Stimulant

Crack cocaine and free base can be smoked

Question 31

Cannabinoids

Answer 31

Marijuana
Tetrahydrocannabinol THC- active agent

Cannabis (2-6% THC)

Hashish (12%) - Oily extract

Euphoria, perceptive alterations, memory impairment

Mood swings, hallucinations- moderate usage

Delusions, paranoia - heavy usage

Question 32

Alcohol

Answer 32

Ethanol- beverage alcohol

methanol/ isopropanol- found in workplace and can cause human injury

Beverage alcohol enters blood mainly from small intestine

Legal limit for driving in the US = 0.08%

Approximate rule: one 12 oz can of beet or one cocktail raises blood cn

Clearance rate is 1 drink per hour

Question 33

Cyanide

Answer 33

Highly toxic chemical, especially in the form of gas (hydrogen cyanide)

Death occurs quickly

Question 34

Immunoassays

Answer 34

Antibodies are used- enable reagents to react only with a substance that recognizes the antibody

Objective, relatively specific, compatible

Question 35

What does TLC stand for?

Answer 35

Thin Layer Chromatography

Question 36

What is Thin Layer Chromotography?

Answer 36

Specimen extracted into an organic solvent and spotted onto a glass plate coated with silica