Postmortem endogenous production of ethanol in albino rabbit

ABSTRACT

This study was carried out to evaluate the endogenous postmortem [PM] ethanol production in Albino rabbit. Fifty-four adult male new-zeland rabbits were divided into three equal groups, 18 animals each. All groups were subjected to intra-peritoneal [IP] injection of 20 ml normal saline for group I [control], 20 ml of 50% glucose [G] for group II, and 2g/kg of 50% ethanol [E] [weight/volume] for group III. Sixty minutes after injection, all animals were sacrificed and left to putrefy for 24 ours at room temperature. Blood [B], vitreous humor [V] and urine [U] samples ere collected from each animal at 3 time intervals; I-Before commencing the experiment [0 time] a blood sample was collected to determine blood glucose concentration [BGC-0] and Blood Ethanol Concentration [BEC-0]. 2-Sixty minutes after injection [just after animal sacrifice] blood and vitreous humor samples to determine [BGC-60], [BEC-60] and [VEC-60] 3-Twenty-four hours postmortem blood, vitreous humor and urine samples to determine [BEC-24]. [VEC-24] and [UEC-24]. The results showed that there is a postmortem production of ethanol. In group I, the concentration of blood ethanol produced PM ranged from 0-42 mg/dL. In group II [glucose dosed group], this concentration ranged from 7-90 mg/dL. In group three [ethanol dosed group] BEC-24 was significantly higher than BEC-60. On the other hand, a positive correlation was found between BECF-60 and VEC-60, BEC-60 and VEC-24 and BEC-60 and UEC-24 in the ethanol dosed group. Furthermore, in the ethanol dosed group also, the ratio between UEC-24; BEC-60 was 1.236 1, UEC-24 BEC-24 was 1.212 1, UEC-24 VEC-24 was 1.219 I and UEC-24; VEC-60 was 1.1611