Exploring the impact of xenobiotic drugs on forensic entomology for accurate post-mortem interval estimation
Summary & key facts
Researchers looked through past studies to see how drugs and poisons in a dead body change how insects grow. They followed a standard process for reviewing studies called PRISMA. Overall, they found that common drugs like morphine, heroin, other opiates, and cocaine usually do not change the time from a newly hatched larva to when adult flies emerge, so using fly emergence to estimate time since death might still work. But larvae that were exposed to drugs often took longer to become pupae, and results for other toxins were mixed. The review says we need more studies on different insect species, longer observation times, and the role of where samples are collected before we can be sure how drugs affect forensic estimates.
- The authors did a systematic review, using an established guideline called PRISMA, to gather and assess previous studies on drugs and insect development.
- The review focused on drugs such as morphine, heroin, other opiates, and cocaine and how they affect insects used in forensic work.
- Most studies reported that the presence of drugs did not change the time from the first larval stage to the moment adult flies emerge, which means estimates of time since death based on fly emergence may not be affected by those drugs.
- Many studies found that larvae exposed to drugs showed delayed pupation, meaning they took longer to reach the pupal stage than unexposed larvae.
- Results about how other toxins affect larval development were inconsistent across studies, so there is no clear single effect for all poisons.
- The paper recommends more research across different insect species, longer observation periods, and careful recording of where samples were collected and the medical or pathological context of the body being studied.
Abstract
Forensic entomotoxicology is an emerging field within forensic entomology that investigates the effects of chemicals, drugs, and toxins on insect development and their implications for postmortem interval (PMI) estimation. This systematic overview delves into the influence of drugs such as Morphine, heroin, Opiates, and cocaine on the variables affecting the use of forensically significant insects as evidence tools. Notably, it has been observed that the presence of drugs does not appear to alter the progression of the lifecycle from the first instar to the emergence of flies, indicating that PMI estimations based on fly emergence remain unaffected by drugs. However, larvae treated with drugs frequently show delayed pupation, suggesting the need for further research into the impact of different compounds on various insect species over more extended observation periods. Additionally, conflicting results have been noted regarding how toxins can influence the developmental process in larvae, underscoring the necessity to assess the effect of different classes of compounds on other insect species. The study also recommends exploring factors such as the samples' collection site and the drugs' pathological implications to inspire future research. Furthermore, the paper underscores the potential for varying drug effects across insect species, emphasizing the complexity of interpreting drug impacts on PMI estimations. This systematic review was conducted by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines.