Evaluation of ETHYL chloride levels in postmortem blood andtissue samples in rats

Ethyl chloride (chloroethane, C2H5Cl) is a volatile substance which is widely used as a local anesthetic in the form of ice spray in many areas of medicine. The cheapness and ease of purchase of these sprays make it easier to abuse. Abuse by sniffing the gas in the pouch is more common. In our study, it is aimed to investigate the ethyl chloride levels in blood and tissue samples by using Gas Chromatography-HeadSpace (GC-HS) method in postmortem period due to the use of ethyl chloride ice spray as an inhaler and our study is important as it is the first study carried out in the literature. 30 rats placed in the cabin according to the experiment protocol were sacrificed by inhaling 13650 ppm ethyl chloride. Autopsy was performed for 30 rats at 5 time points which are postmortem 0, 2, 4, 6 and 12 hours. Postmortem heart blood, lung, liver, adrenal fat, kidney, muscle (biceps femoris) and brain tissues were collected from the subjects respectively. It was determined that it reached the highest level in the 2. hour, then decreased considerably in the 6th hour and regressed to the measurement level made in the 0. hour. Postmortem ethyl chloride level was detected at the highest level in lung tissue at 0, 2, 6 and 12. hours. No statistically significant results were obtained in evaluating the time-dependent difference of postmortem ethyl chloride levels in tissues and blood. As a result of comparing the postmortem samples at each time point, it was observed that the level of ethyl chloride in lung tissue was higher than all other samples except 4th hour liver tissue. Additionally, it was observed that there was a difference in the level of ethyl chloride in the lung tissue in the postmortem 2-4 hours. Consequently, our study shown that lung tissue is the best sampling tissue for the detection of ethyl chloride at autopsy and sample analyzing should be performed until the end of the 6th hour in order to detect the ethyl chloride level in postmortem tissue.