LIPID-PEROXIDATION IN POSTMORTEM BLOOD OF FIRE VICTIMS

This study was carried out in order to test the possibility that free radicals play a critical role in the toxicology of smoke inhalation and the usefulness of measuring lipid peroxidation in the medical investigation of fire deaths. The degree of lipid peroxidation was determined by measuring malondialdehyde (MDA) concentrations in postmortem blood using a fluorometric method, based on its thiobarbituric acid (TBA) reactivity. The existing method has been modified to remove hemoglobin as an interference. The procedure described is the first application of the TBA-MDA reaction to the analysis of postmortem blood. Mean MDA levels (standard deviations in brackets) in serum were 1.8 (0.74), 1.0 (0.69), and 0.88 (0.89) μM for fire, atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, and gun-shot wound victims, respectively. Analysis of the data by a t test (P = 0.05) revealed that a statistically significant difference exists between the fire victim population and each of the other two populations. The fire victims' carbon monoxide and cyanide levels were also determined. Plots of MDA versus CO and MDA versus CN- gave correlation coefficients of 0.467 and 0.702, respectively. © 1990.