LSD in pubic hair in a fatality.

Jean-michel Gaulier, Julie Maublanc, Florence Lamballais, Sophie Bargel, Gérard Lachâtre

Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University Hospital, 2 Avenue Martin Luther King, 87042 Limoges, France. jm-gaulier@unilim.fr

Forensic science international 2012 May 10

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Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) is a potent hallucinogen, active at very low dosage and its determination in body fluids in a forensic context may present some difficulties, even more so in hair. A dedicated liquid chromatography-electrospray-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-ES-MS/MS) assay in hair was used to document the case of a 24-year-old man found dead after a party. Briefly, after a decontamination step, a 50mg sample of the victim's pubic hair was cut into small pieces (<1mm length), and incubated overnight in 3mL of phosphate buffer pH 5 at room temperature. After a liquid-liquid extraction (dichloromethane/ether), the extract was analyzed using a LC-ES-MS/MS method exhibiting a limit of quantification of 0.5pg/mg for LSD. A LSD concentration of 0.66pg/mg of pubic hair was observed. However, this result remains difficult to interpret owing to the concomitant LSD presence in the victim's post mortem blood and urine, the lack of previously reported LSD concentrations in hair, and the absence of data about LSD incorporation and stability in pubic hair. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Citation

Jean-michel Gaulier, Julie Maublanc, Florence Lamballais, Sophie Bargel, Gérard Lachâtre. LSD in pubic hair in a fatality. Forensic science international. 2012 May 10;218(1-3):25-7