Contemporary trends in drug analysis of vitreous humor: A critical review

Vitreous humor (VH) is an important alternative matrix used in post-mortem forensic toxicology. VH has particular advantages over other biological matrices due to its good resistance to autosynthesis of endogenous compounds in post-mortem processes. However, the analysis of VH samples is mainly based on classical extraction techniques at preparation stage and chromatographic methods used to determine psychoactive substances. There is a lack of new, quicker and more effective drug extraction techniques, which could also correspond to the current trends in Green Chemistry. The aim of this study is to summarize and critically review the data submitted for post-mortem analysis of VH for toxicological and forensic purposes. It deals with some important issues: sampling, storage, preparation, and methods for identifying different important types of psychoactive drugs. In addition, the review provides insight into the pharmacokinetics of xenobiotics and highlights the main trends and achievements in correlation studies with classical matrices. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.