Abstract
The accidental ingestion of plant material containing colchicines is a rare cause of lethal poisoning. The death of a married couple who mistook colchicines for Bear's garlic (Allium ursinum) and prepared the latter as a salad is the tragic topic of this article. After discussing the specificity of the histological findings, a chemicotoxicological method using liquid chromatographic mass spectrometric (LC-MS/MS) is presented. Toxicological analyses using LC-MS/MS revealed colchicine concentrations between 36.6 ng/mL and 98.3 ng/mL in the heart blood and between 22.7 ng/mL and 78.4 ng/mL in the femoral blood of the victims.
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Wehner, F., Mußhoff, F., Schulz, M.M. et al. Detection of colchicine by means of LC-MS/MS after mistaking meadow saffron for bear's garlic. Forens Sci Med Pathol 2, 193–197 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12024-006-0009-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12024-006-0009-7