Comparative Study of Postmortem Concentrations of Benzodiazepines and Z-Hypnotics in Several Different Matrices.

This article focuses on comparing concentrations of benzodiazepines and z-hypnotics in five alternative postmortem matrices—cardiac blood (CB), pericardial fluid (PF), psoas muscle (PM), lateral vastus muscle (LVM), and vitreous humor (VH)—to those in peripheral blood (PB) in forensic autopsy cases in Norway. Analyzing 109 cases with ultra high performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry, the study found that CB, PF, PM, and LVM generally provide concentrations comparable to PB, while VH concentrations were consistently lower for most compounds except zopiclone. Nitrobenzodiazepines showed higher concentrations in muscle tissues compared to PB, whereas 7-amino metabolites and other benzodiazepines correlated well across matrices. The authors emphasize that interpretation of drug concentrations in alternative matrices requires careful consideration of case context, as variability and matrix-specific factors influence results.