The development of hydrogen sulfide poisoning diagnosis method by measuring thiosulfate concentration with LC-MS/MS

Research Project

Project/Area Number	17K15874
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Research Field	Legal medicine
Research Institution	Hokkaido University
Principal Investigator	Matoba Kotaro 北海道大学, 医学研究院, 講師 (00466450)
Research Collaborator	Hyodoh Hideki Jin Shigeki
Project Period (FY)	2017-04-01 – 2019-03-31
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 2018)
Budget Amount *help	¥2,340,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥540,000) Fiscal Year 2018: ¥1,170,000 (Direct Cost: ¥900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥270,000) Fiscal Year 2017: ¥1,170,000 (Direct Cost: ¥900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥270,000)
Keywords	チオ硫酸塩 / 硫化水素中毒 / 死後変化 / 法医学 / 法中毒学 / 社会医学
Outline of Final Research Achievements	The thiosulfate concentration in blood has been recognized as a marker of hydrogen sulfide poisoning in forensic medicine. In this study, we established a new method of quantitative analysis of thiosulfate concentration using LC-MS/MS instead of GC-MS, and studied the changes in thiosulfate concentration caused by postmortem decomposition of 3 kinds of body fluids (blood, urine, and pericardial effusion) collected from forensic autopsy cases. The thiosulfate concentration in each body fluid in the decomposed cases (non-hydrogen sulfide poisoning cases) was detected at a high level, at the same level as that in hydrogen sulfide poisoning cases.Therefore, thiosulfate in body fluids is produced by postmortem decomposition regardless of hydrogen sulfide poisoning, and it is necessary to consider the influence of postmortem decomposition in the diagnosis of hydrogen sulfide poisoning based on thiosulfate concentration.
Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements	従来のチオ硫酸塩の測定は前処理が煩雑であるため、硫化水素中毒が疑われない場合は、検査が実施されないことが多いので硫化水素中毒が見逃されている可能性がある。本研究で確立したチオ硫酸塩濃度測定法は簡便迅速であり、法医解剖で得られた検体の測定が行われることで、硫化水素中毒の見逃しを未然に防ぎ、事故の再発防止が可能となることが期待される。また、死後腐敗によるチオ硫酸塩濃度の上昇が確認されたことにより、硫化水素中毒の診断において腐敗の程度を考慮することが必要であることが判明した。