RSC Publishing


Publishing

 

Cover image for The Analyst, select for current issue

The Analyst

The home of high impact research in analytical, bioanalytical and detection science.




Forum

Analyst, 2006, 131, 961 - 965, DOI: 10.1039/b609130j


Challenges in forensic toxicology of skeletonised human remains

James Watterson PhD 


Forensic toxicologists typically work with body fluids such as blood or urine, as well as visceral tissues such as liver. Very little work has been done to properly understand the utility of drug concentrations in bone tissue in a toxicologic examination. Literature reports suggest that detection of selected drugs in bone tissues is possible, but challenging work remains to determine the implications of bone tissue drug concentration measurements with respect to timelines of drug ingestion and deposition into bone, tissue sampling and sensitivity requirements, and environmental effects on measurements and their interpretation.

Graphical abstract image for this article  (ID: b609130j)