The usefulness of vitreous humor in the postmortem diagnosis of insulin overdose: a literature review
Keywords:
Vitreous humor, postmortem diagnosis, insulin overdoseAbstract
Insulin is a widely used drug for the management of various types of diabetes. Overdoses can lead to death within hours; however, postmortem diagnosis has been a major challenge for forensic science. A literature review was conducted to characterize the importance of vitreous humor analysis for the postmortem diagnosis of insulin overdose. Twenty-eight references published in the last 20 years in Spanish and English are included. Postmortem diagnosis of insulin overdose is challenging due to the instability of insulin in the blood. The vitreous humor is an anatomically isolated body fluid with comparatively slow degradation, which has proven useful in these cases. Immunoisolation techniques, liquid chromatography, and tandem mass spectrometry have enabled the quantification of exogenous insulin in this fluid and the differentiation between human and synthetic insulins. The study of the vitreous humor, in parallel with the development of innovative laboratory techniques, has opened up countless possibilities for forensic science.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Liliana Teruel-Leyva, Bryan Alejandro Alarcón-Guambo, Luis Ramón Ramírez-Verdezoto, Ariana Karolina Guevara-Álvarez, Carol Alejandra Quillupangui-Quillupangui
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