CHY 183 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Alcohol Dehydrogenase, Vitreous Body, Alcohol By Volume
Document Summary
Forensic toxicology: measurement of alcohol in the body for matters pertaining to violations of criminal law. Primary objective - detection + isolation of drugs in body for the purpose of determining their influence on human behaviour. Responsible for detecting and identifying presence of drugs/poison in body fluids, tissues, organs. Work in crime labs and medical examiner offices. Helps hospital labs and health facilities to identify drug overdose/monitor intake of blood. Most heavily abused legal drug in western countries. A depressant; affects central nervous system (esp. brain) Blood alcohol concentration directly proportional to concentration of alcohol in the brain. Slowly increases in concentration as it"s absorbed from the stomach + small intestine into the bloodstream. Max blood alcohol level = all alcohol is absorbed. Post-absorption/elimination period begins and then alcohol concentration slowly decreases to 0. Drinking on empty/modestly full stomach - fully absorbed entirely in 30-90 mins after drinking. Drinking on full stomach - fully absorbed in 2-4- hours after drinking.
