An HPLC-DAD method was developed to detect and quantify a neonicotinoid insecticide acetamiprid (ATP) and its metabolite IM-1-2 in autopsy samples of a fatal intoxication case. The postmortem blood and tissue distribution of ATP and IM-1-2 was determined for the first time. The method showed acceptable precisions and recoveries with relative standard deviations of <10% for ATP level and 1.38 % for IM-1-2. The detection and quantification limits for ATP were 0.015 μg/mL and 0.030 μg/mL for blood and were 0.035 μg/g and 0.050 μg/g for liver samples, respectively. The mean contents of ATP were 0.79 μg/g in the liver, 47.35 μg/g in the stomach contents and 2.7 μg/mL in the blood. IM-1-2 content was 17.0 μg/g in the stomach contents. ATP and IM-1-2 were not detected in the urine. The presence of ATP and IM-1-2 in the samples was confirmed by GC-MS. The method can be exploited in future forensic casework.
Keywords: IM-1-2; acetamiprid; forensic science; intoxication; liver; postmortem blood; stomach contents; urine.
© 2013 American Academy of Forensic Sciences.