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Cyanide concentrations in blood and tissues of fire victims.
Leg Med (Tokyo). 2019 Nov; 41:101628.LM

Abstract

Cyanide poisoning has been regarded to contribute the fatal outcome in fire victims. The toxicity of inhaled hydrogen cyanide (HCN) at the cellular level was evaluated considering the impact of methemoglobin (MetHb) produced by fire gases. Cyanide (CN) concentrations and total hemoglobin contents were measured in right heart blood (RHB) and seven organs/tissues (basal ganglia, brain stem, heart, lung, liver, kidney and psoas muscle) collected from 20 fire fatalities. MetHb and carboxyhemoglobin saturations were also measured in RHB. The amount of CN probably bound to the cytochrome c oxidase of the tissue cells (CCO-CN) was extrapolated from CN and hemoglobin contents in RHB and organs/tissues, MetHb saturation in RHB and binding capacity of MetHb for CN. CN concentrations in RHB showed a wide range with the highest concentration of 8.927 μg/mL. The lung contained the largest CN content among organs/tissues with the mean concentration of 2.219 μg/g, then the heart (0.259 μg/g) and it was lower than 0.100 μg/g in others. Exceedingly large amount of CN in the lung could be explained by high hemoglobin content, being the port of entry of HCN and postmortem diffusion of fire gases. CCO-CN was theoretically present in about 20% of organ/tissue samples, most commonly in the basal ganglia (10 samples, with the mean of 0.059 μg/g) followed by heart (eight samples, with the mean of 0.109 μg/g). No CCO-CN was found in liver and kidney. HCN might have the effect on brain and heart.

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Authors+Show Affiliations

Htike TT
Department of Legal Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama University, Shikata-cho 2-5-1, Kita-ku, Okayama 700-8558, Japan; Department of Forensic Medicine, University of Medicine, Mandalay, 30th Street, Between 73rd & 74th Streets, Chanayetharzan Township, Mandalay, Myanmar.
Moriya F
Department of Legal Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama University, Shikata-cho 2-5-1, Kita-ku, Okayama 700-8558, Japan; Department of Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Kawasaki University of Medical Welfare, Matsushima 288, Kurashiki, Okayama 701-0193, Japan.
Miyaishi S
Department of Legal Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama University, Shikata-cho 2-5-1, Kita-ku, Okayama 700-8558, Japan. Electronic address: miyaishi@md.okayama-u.ac.jp.

MeSH

AdultAgedAged, 80 and overBasal GangliaBrain StemCarboxyhemoglobinCyanidesFemaleFiresForensic MedicineHemoglobinsHumansKidneyLiverLungMaleMethemoglobinMiddle AgedMyocardiumPsoas MusclesYoung Adult

Pub Type(s)

Journal Article

Language

eng

PubMed ID

31711010

Citation

Htike, Thu Thu, et al. "Cyanide Concentrations in Blood and Tissues of Fire Victims." Legal Medicine (Tokyo, Japan), vol. 41, 2019, p. 101628.
Htike TT, Moriya F, Miyaishi S. Cyanide concentrations in blood and tissues of fire victims. Leg Med (Tokyo). 2019;41:101628.
Htike, T. T., Moriya, F., & Miyaishi, S. (2019). Cyanide concentrations in blood and tissues of fire victims. Legal Medicine (Tokyo, Japan), 41, 101628. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.legalmed.2019.101628
Htike TT, Moriya F, Miyaishi S. Cyanide Concentrations in Blood and Tissues of Fire Victims. Leg Med (Tokyo). 2019;41:101628. PubMed PMID: 31711010.
* Article titles in AMA citation format should be in sentence-case
TY - JOUR T1 - Cyanide concentrations in blood and tissues of fire victims. AU - Htike,Thu Thu, AU - Moriya,Fumio, AU - Miyaishi,Satoru, Y1 - 2019/10/25/ PY - 2019/05/30/received PY - 2019/08/29/revised PY - 2019/10/10/accepted PY - 2019/11/12/pubmed PY - 2020/4/23/medline PY - 2019/11/12/entrez KW - Cyanide KW - Cytochrome c oxidase KW - Fire fatality KW - Methemoglobin SP - 101628 EP - 101628 JF - Legal medicine (Tokyo, Japan) JO - Leg Med (Tokyo) VL - 41 N2 - Cyanide poisoning has been regarded to contribute the fatal outcome in fire victims. The toxicity of inhaled hydrogen cyanide (HCN) at the cellular level was evaluated considering the impact of methemoglobin (MetHb) produced by fire gases. Cyanide (CN) concentrations and total hemoglobin contents were measured in right heart blood (RHB) and seven organs/tissues (basal ganglia, brain stem, heart, lung, liver, kidney and psoas muscle) collected from 20 fire fatalities. MetHb and carboxyhemoglobin saturations were also measured in RHB. The amount of CN probably bound to the cytochrome c oxidase of the tissue cells (CCO-CN) was extrapolated from CN and hemoglobin contents in RHB and organs/tissues, MetHb saturation in RHB and binding capacity of MetHb for CN. CN concentrations in RHB showed a wide range with the highest concentration of 8.927 μg/mL. The lung contained the largest CN content among organs/tissues with the mean concentration of 2.219 μg/g, then the heart (0.259 μg/g) and it was lower than 0.100 μg/g in others. Exceedingly large amount of CN in the lung could be explained by high hemoglobin content, being the port of entry of HCN and postmortem diffusion of fire gases. CCO-CN was theoretically present in about 20% of organ/tissue samples, most commonly in the basal ganglia (10 samples, with the mean of 0.059 μg/g) followed by heart (eight samples, with the mean of 0.109 μg/g). No CCO-CN was found in liver and kidney. HCN might have the effect on brain and heart. SN - 1873-4162 UR - https://www.unboundmedicine.com/medline/citation/31711010/Cyanide_concentrations_in_blood_and_tissues_of_fire_victims_ DB - PRIME DP - Unbound Medicine ER -