Bromide detection in blood using energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence; a chemical marker supportive of drowning in seawater

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• 作者：Motonori Takahashi ; Hiroshi Kinoshita ; Minori Nishiguchi ; Hajime Nishio
• 关键词：Seawater drowning ; Bromide in blood ; Energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (EDX)
• 刊名：Legal Medicine
• 出版年：2010
• 出版时间：May 2010
• 年：2010
• 卷：12
• 期：3
• 页码：132-136
• 全文大小：428 K

文摘

Energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (EDX) enables rapid, non-destructive, multi-elemental analysis. Using EDX, bromide was detected in seawater but not in freshwater. We applied EDX to the detection of bromide in cardiac blood from medico-legal autopsy cases to obtain additional evidence supportive of seawater drowning. Bromide was detected in the blood of 4 out of 10 victims drowned in seawater. In contrast, bromide concentrations were below the quantification limit in both victims from freshwater drowning and non-drowning controls. No postmortem invasion of bromide was observed in animal experiments of postmortem immersion in seawater. These results indicate that the detection of bromide in blood by EDX could be a chemical marker supportive of drowning in seawater.