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Non-toxic postmortem trazodone tissue (liver) concentrations have not been previously described. Liver trazodone concentrations were compared to peripheral blood and central blood concentrations in 19 medical examiner cases. Postmortem blood specimens were initially screened for alcohol and simple volatiles, drugs of abuse, and alkaline drugs. Trazodone, when detected by the alkaline drug screen, was subsequently confirmed and quantified by a high performance liquid chromatography procedure. Re-analyses showed that there may be degradation of trazodone in postmortem blood stored at 4°C. There was, on average, about a 20% decrease in samples stored up to eight months. These data suggest that postmortem trazodone peripheral blood concentrations may be considered non-toxic to at least 1.0mg/L with liver concentrations to at least 2.2mg/kg. Overall, trazodone concentrations ranged from 0.08-6.1mg/L in peripheral blood, 0.07-7.1mg/L in central blood, and 0.39-26mg/kg in liver. The median trazodone central blood to peripheral blood ratio was 0.98 (N=19). The liver to peripheral blood ratios showed a median value of 2.8L/kg (N=18). Given that a liver to peripheral blood ratio less than 5L/kg is consistent with little to no propensity for postmortem redistribution, these data demonstrate that trazodone is unlikely to show significant redistribution., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Calliphora vicina larvae were fed on drug-laden muscle from three suicides involving amitriptyline, temazepam and a combination of trazodone and trimipramine; triplicate daily harvestings were analysed. The limit of detection for all four drugs was 0.01 micrograms drug/g larvae. Mean drug concentrations (microgram/g) in the initial muscle were:amitriptyline, 2.68; temazepam, 4.04; trazodone, 21.56; and trimipramine, 19.58. Larval rearings for days 4-8 (15 larval samples per drug) had mean and ranges of drug concentrations (microgram/g) of 0.10 (r, 0.02-0.24) for amitriptyline; 0.52 (r, 0.26-0.78) for temazepam; 0.13 (r, 0.05-0.32) for trazodone; and 0.28 (r, 0.10-0.59) for trimipramine. After day 8 there was a precipitous fall in larval drug concentrations associated with pupariation. At day 11 ranges of drug concentrations (microgram/g) were: amitriptyline, < 0.01-0.01; temazepam, 0.01-0.08; trazodone, < 0.01-0.01; and trimipramine, 0.04-0.04. Day 16 pupae had corresponding ranges (microgram/g) of < 0.01, 0.01-0.01, < 0.01 and < 0.01-0.02. Transfer to drug-free food at day 5 led to similar falls in drug concentrations (microgram/g) from day 5 to day 6: 0.08-0.03 for amitriptyline, 0.61-0.09 for temazepam, 0.13-0.01 for trazodone, and 0.30-0.02 for trimipramine. The results show considerable variation in larval drug concentrations, both at the same developmental stage and at different stages of the life cycle, under conditions which closely reflect case situations. In practice, the precipitous decrease in drug concentrations in non-feeding larvae and at pupariation make it desirable to sample only larvae actively feeding on a corpse.