TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2004//
TI  - Postmortem serotonin (5-HT) concentrations in the cerebrospinal fluid of medicolegal cases
JO  - Forensic science international
A1  - Musshoff, F.
A1  - Menting, T.
A1  - Madea, B.
SP  - 211
EP  - 219
VL  - 142
IS  - 2-3
N2  - In a medicolegal study the postmortem serotonin (5-HT) cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) concentrations were determined in routine autopsies using a high performance liquid chromatographic procedure with electrochemical detection. There was no correlation between 5-HT concentrations and age, sex or blood alcohol concentration using a postmortem delay < or = 3 days. In suicides the suboccipital CSF concentrations were significantly decreased compared to the levels measured in the control group (8.55+/-5.99 ng/ml versus 20.15+/-13.56 ng/ml). Additionally, a decrease of 5-HT was found in the suboccipital CSF of opiate fatalities (15.56+/-13.52 ng/ml). The results support the hypothesis that decreased 5-HT concentrations in the CSF are characteristic in suicides. However, due to a rather broad overlapping of values between suicides and controls the results failed to define a possible cut-off level in the 5-HT CSF concentration to distinguish between a suicidal and a non-suicidal incident.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0379-0738
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.forsciint.2004.02.023
ID  - ref1
ER  -