Premium
A Case of Fatal Intoxication from Metformin *
Author(s) -
Gambaro Veniero,
Dell’Acqua Lucia,
Farè Fiorenza,
Fidani Marco,
Froldi Rino,
Saligari Elisa
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
journal of forensic sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.715
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1556-4029
pISSN - 0022-1198
DOI - 10.1111/j.1556-4029.2007.00461.x
Subject(s) - metformin , chromatography , dichloromethane , sodium , acetonitrile , medicine , lactic acidosis , diabetes mellitus , chemistry , endocrinology , solvent , biochemistry , organic chemistry
A case of fatal intoxication from metformin is presented. The decedent was an obese 58‐year‐old‐woman with type II diabetes, in whom severe lactic acidosis secondary to metformin accumulation was precipitated by acute renal failure. She had been on metformin 500 mg twice a day. Postmortem blood was deproteinated with acetonitrile, washed with dichloromethane, and the resulting supernatant injected into high‐performance liquid chromatography system. Separation was performed on a analytical 125 × 4 mm i.d. RP‐8 column. The wavelength was set at 235 nm. The mobile phase was acetonitrile (40%), sodium lauryl sulfate, and sodium dihydrogen phosphate adjusted to pH 5.1 (60%) at a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min. The concentration of metformin in postmortem blood was 77.3 μg/mL. The qualitative result was also confirmed by LC/APCI/MS/MS analysis.