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영어

Nicotine is a major component of tobacco and the addictive substance in cigarette smoke. Wide use of e-cigarette has been leading acute intoxication of nicotine in recent days in Korea. In this study, acute nicotine and antihistamines intoxications in two suicidal cases are reported. A male and a female were found dead in a hotel. Near the victims, two disposable syringes filled with about 5 mL of brown liquid and two empty e-cigarette liquid bottles labeled with ‘HO-OOO’ pure nicotine solution were found. Several injection marks were found on the back of left hands in each person. A series of forensic autopsy specimens were collected and analyzed. Nicotine, doxylamine(DA) and Diphenhydramine(DPH) were detected in two victim’s biologic specimens. Liquid chromatography/Tandem mass spectrometry(LC/MS/MS) was used for identification and quantification of the detected drugs. Femoral venous blood, heart blood, bile, urine, cerebrospinal fluid, gastric contents and tissue at the injection site were collected and analyzed for drug testing. The concentrations of nicotine in femoral blood in male and female victim were 4.85 mg/L and 0.60 mg/L, respectively. The concentrations of DA were 1.48 mg/L and 0.84 mg/L, and the concentrations of DPH were 1.06 mg/L and 0.16 mg/L in femoral blood in male and female victim, respectively. Based on these results, we determined the cause of death in these suicidal cases could be multidrug poisoning involving nicotine, DA and DPH.