Rapid determination of lithium in blood by color reaction using fluorine substituted tetraphenylporphyrin ligand and application of the method to autopsy case

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K09217
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Legal medicine
• Research Institution: Iwate Medical University
• Principal Investigator: FUJITA YUJI 岩手医科大学, 医学部, 講師 (50721974)
• Research Collaborator: Niitsu Hisae ; Iwabuchi Takuya
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2019-03-31
• Keywords: 中毒 / リチウム

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Lithium (Li) preparation is widely used as an agent for bipolar disorder. Blood Li concentrations are related to Li toxicity. We developed new method for rapid determination of blood Li by a color reaction. Specifically, our reaction uses the fluorine substituted tetraphenylporphyrin ligand (F28TPP) solution. For the color reaction, changes of the color phase depend on blood Li levels: green, orange, and red indicate less effective levels, effective levels (0.6-1.2 mEq/L), and toxic levels (>2.0 mEq/L), respectively. Li concentrations determined using our color phase method showed good agreement with those measured by an analyzer. Our method helps in the rapid diagnosis of clinically Li intoxication cases, and is applicable to the screening test of Li in autopsy cases.

Free Research Field

中毒

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

リチウムは自殺目的での大量摂取に加え、治療域と中毒域が近接しているため慢性中毒の頻度が比較的高い薬物であることから、救急や精神科、法医学において分析対象となる薬物である。一般的に生体中のリチウムの測定には原子吸光光度計などの元素分析装置が用いられるが、そのような高度・高額な機器を使用せずとも、開発した方法は色相を確認するのみで簡便かつ迅速に半定量的にリチウムを検出できるスクリーニング法である。本法は臨床におけるリチウム中毒の迅速な診断に貢献できる他、法医学領域におけるリチウム中毒死の見過ごしをなくし死因究明に貢献できると考えられる。