![handle is hein.journals/injlegame115 and id is 1 raw text is: *3
K. Takahashi - N. Ikeda - K. Kudo - M. Funayama
Forensic significance of concentrations of ethanol
in brain tissues following induced acute subdural hemorrhage
Received: 4 August 2000 / Accepted: 21 November 2000
Abstract The concentrations of ethanol in peripheral
blood, subdural hematomas and various regions of the
brain were determined 1, 2, 4, and 6 h after the induction
of a hemorrhage into a subdural space in the right temple
of rabbits. The concentrations were compared to cases of
intravenous administration of ethanol-free i.v. fluid. Con-
centrations of ethanol in the subdural hematomas gradu-
ally decreased to correspond to those in the peripheral
blood. The influence of an intravenous infusion of eth-
anol-free i.v. fluid was not observed. Concentrations in
the brain of the right temporal, parietal and frontal lobes
were high and those in the right temporal lobe were main-
tained during the 6 h of our experiment. Therefore, to de-
termine if a human victim was under the influence of eth-
anol at the time of injury, we recommend that brain con-
centrations of ethanol be determined. This is apparently
the first study to confirm that the estimation of ethanol in
the brain provides a more accurate determination of how
much ethanol had been ingested.
Keywords Subdural hematoma Ethanol distribution-
Brain Cerebral blood flow Intracranial pressure
Introduction
Acute subdural hemorrhage is the most common lethal in-
jury associated with head trauma [1] whereby the victim
may have lost consciousness immediately after sustaining
the injury [2] and brain death can occur.
K. Takahashi N. Ikeda (®) K. Kudo
Department of Forensic Pathology and Sciences,
Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University,
3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-8582, Japan
e-mail: norii@forensic.med.kyushu-u.ac.jp,
Tel.: +81-92-6426121, Fax:+81-92-6426126
K. Takahashi M. Funayama
Department of Forensic Medicine,
Tohoku University School of Medicine,
2-1 Seiryo-machi, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8575, Japan
In forensic toxicology, it is difficult to determine
whether a victim who survives for several hours after the
injury or who was given medical treatment before death
was under the influence of ethanol at the time of injury.
Detection of ethanol in subdural hematomas has been re-
ported [3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11], but we found no docu-
mentation of intracranial changes in concentrations of
ethanol in a subdural hematoma prior to death.
We induced acute subdural hemorrhages in rabbits by
injecting blood into the subdural space and studied the re-
lationship between concentrations of ethanol in the sub-
dural hematoma, various tissues of the brain and in pe-
ripheral blood samples. We also tested if concentrations of
ethanol in all these regions would be influenced by intra-
venous infusion (ethanol-free i.v. fluid; Terupack) given
during medical treatment.
Materials and methods
Animals
Disease-free male Japanese white rabbits (n = 40) were housed and
treated in accordance with accepted principles of laboratory animal
care. This study was carried out under regulations determined by
the Kyushu University institutional animal investigation commit-
tee. The rabbits were 5 months old and weighed 3.54 ± 0.29 kg, all
food was withheld for at least 12 h before the start of the experi-
ment and water for drinking was withheld during the experiment.
Pharmacokinetic study of ethanol
Ten rabbits were given a single dose of 10 ml of a 40% ethanol so-
lution per kg body weight by gavage. Blood (4 ml each) collected
from the right ear vein into a syringe containing 0.001 g EDTA at
0.5, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12 and 14 h after ingestion was pharma-
cokinetically analyzed.
Induction of acute subdural hemorrhages
For preparation of subdural hematomas in rabbits, we used the
method reported by Bullock et al. [12], but with some modifica-
tions whereby 20 rabbits were divided into 4 groups each contain-
ing 5 rabbits, and 40% ethanol solution was given by gavage at a
Int 7 Legal Med (2001) 115 :1-5
© Springer-Verlag 2001](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/injlegame115&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
What Is HeinOnline?
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most