Determination of drug levels and the effect of diazepam on the growth of necrophagous flies of forensic importance in southeastern Brazil

Larvae of Chrysomya albiceps (Wiedemann) and Chrysomya putoria (Wiedemann) (Diptera: Calliphoridae) were reared on tissues from rabbits administered t wice the lethal dosage of diazepam in order to study the effects of this dr ug on the development of these two species. The rabbits were given 50 mg of diazepam via ear vein infusion. From 18 to 54 h, larvae feeding on tissues containing the drug developed more rapidly than larvae from the control co lony for both fly species. The time required for pupariation and adult emer gence was significantly greater for colony fed on tissues from diazepam dos ed rabbits than for the control ones. These differences are significant for they are large enough to alter the estimate of postmortem interval based o n fly development. The presence of diazepam could be detected through gas c hromatography-mass spectrometer (GC-MS) in all rabbit samples and in almost all diptera samples in this experiment. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.