Identification of Benzodiazepine Use Based on Dried Blood Stains Analysis

• Published in: Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) Switzerland), 2024-06, Vol.17 (6), p.799
• Main Authors: Fernández-López, Lucía, Rodríguez, Sandra, Cánovas-Cabanes, Alberto, Teruel-Fernández, Francisco-Javier, Almela, Pilar, Del Rincón, Juan-Pedro Hernández, Navarro-Zaragoza, Javier, Falcón, María
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Alcohol; Benzodiazepines; Calibration; Cotton fabrics; Crime scenes; Criminal statistics; dried blood stain; Drugs; Medical screening; overdose; Stains & staining; toxicological effects
• ISSN: 1424-8247; 1424-8247
• DOI: 10.3390/ph17060799

Biological matrices are typically used in forensic toxicological or pharmacological analysis: mainly blood, vitreous humor or urine. However, there are many cases in which crimes are a consequence of drug intoxication or drug abuse and they are not closed because over the months or years the samples become altered or decomposed. A dried blood stains test (DBS-MS) has recently been proposed to be used in drug toxicology when blood is found at a crime scene. This test could help an investigator to reveal what a person had consumed before the perpetration of the crime. In order to check the possibilities of this test, we analyzed several dried blood stains located on a cotton fabric. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine if the analysis of a dried blood spot located on a cotton fabric could be an alternate source of obtaining toxicological results, particularly regarding benzodiazepines. We splashed blood stains on cotton fabric with different concentrations of the following benzodiazepines: alprazolam, bromazepam, clonazepam, diazepam and lorazepam, which were dried for 96 h and subsequently quantified by high-performance liquid chromatography coupled mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS). Our results show that it is possible to identify several benzodiazepines contained in a cotton fabric blood stain; consequently, this method may add another sample option to the toxicological analysis of biological vestiges found at a crime scene.