Authors
Harshitha J Y, Nithyashree S, Supraja OD, Rida Tabassum, Dr. Prashanth Kumar HP
Abstract
Any chemical can be harmful when taken in large quantity or in certain conditions. Toxicity is the magnitude to which an organism can be damaged or harmed by a particular substance. For the forensic toxicology, the toxicity mechanism provides perception as to how a physical or chemical substance can cause death or incapacitation. To know the working of such toxic compounds, metabolomics plays a major role. Metabolomics is the field of "omics" which deals with the analysis of small molecules/ metabolites within the living cells, tissues or organisms. It is influenced by genetic and environmental factors providing in depth analysis of altered metabolic pathways that are targeted by harmful chemicals in forensic toxicology. Acute toxicity may harm an organism in short term exposure. A true poison like arsenic and cyanide is lethal even if it is consumed in minute amounts. Cyanide refers to a chemical containing carbon- nitrogen bond (C-N bond) having negatively charged ion. It causes arrest of aerobic metabolism in living beings as CN attaches to the iron atom in Cytochrome C Oxidase [CCO] in mitochondria of cells. Its exposure most often occurs through consumption or inhalation. Metabolomics helps in the understanding of cyanide pathway in ETC and the concentration of cyanide can be detected in the human by separation/ detection techniques like HPLC and GC-MS chromatographic techniques. In this context, Cyanide toxicity is explained with the help of a case study. The metabolite concentrations, physical characteristics, phenotypic changes and the postmortem appearance are reviewed in detail. Keywords: Metabolomics, Forensic toxicology, Metabolite, Phenotype, Chromatography.
Introduction
The degree of toxicity of any substance relies on how much enters our body and the period of its existence or shelf life of that toxic compound. A true poison like Arsenic, Cyanide is considered to be lethal even if the consumption is miniscule. Whereas intoxicant like Carbon monoxide and Alcohol is proved lethal only if taken in large amounts. Detection of such small metabolites which can be a possible cause for the toxicity is done with the help of metabolomics (Manchester and Anand, 2017).
Analysis of small-molecule metabolite profiles or data related to the diseases is called Metabolomics. It mainly relies on the cellular process analysis whose chemical traces are left behind which gives an accurate analysis of metabolic pathways that might be altered by the presence of harmful chemicals (Fiehn, 2002). The metabolome indicates the entire group of metabolites in each and every cell or tissue or organ or organism that is considered to be the cellular processes’ end products. It requires the utilization of advanced analytical technologies to recognize and assess the quantity of cellular metabolites, along with the extraction of relevant statistics such that the data/details can be analysed and applied in a practical manner.
References
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How to cite this article?
| APA Style | Y, H. J., S, N., D, S. O., Tabassum, R., & P, P. H. (2021). Metabolomics: An Aid in Cyanide Toxicity. Academic Journal of Forensic Sciences, 4(1), 10–15. |
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