Postmortem Stability of Barbiturates in Blood and Tissues

Abstract
The stability of five commonly prescribed barbiturates and thiopental in blood and liver at room temperature and at 4°C was studied. Gas chromatography was used for oxybarbiturate analysis while liquid chromatography was used to quantitate thiopental. In blood and liver, greater than 75% of the drugs were detected at the end of the two- to three-month period. These changes were not considered significant; therefore, barbiturates appear to be stable in blood and liver under the conditions of these experiments.

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