Can the Morphine amount reduce after the body dies?

I recently found a comment where someone was wondering if the half-life of morphine continues after death and therefore Cobain's morphine amount in blood had reduced gradually in the 3 days after his death. The short answer is no. I was once under that impression too and mistakenly thought that the elimination half-life of morphine continues after the body dies. I even have a few old videos on my YouTube channel where I assumed that Cobain died on 8th April 1994 because of this. However, I did my research and learned that I was wrong.

From what I know morphine metabolizes into morphine-3-glucuronide (M3G) and morphine-6-glucuronide (M6G) via a process known as glucuronidation. In glucuronidation a substance known as glucuronic acid is used to metabolize morphine into its metabolites M3G and M6G. Glucuronic acid is formed in the liver. When morphine enters the liver that is where it undergoes the glucuronidation process. Therefore, the liver needs to be functioning for morphine to metabolize and reduce in amount in the blood. After the body dies the liver stops functioning and the elimination half-life of morphine ceases. In other words morphine would stop reducing in amount in blood after death.

I also feel like to add that I learned heroin and its metabolite 6-acetylmorphine (6-AM) also called 6-monoacetylmorphine (6-MAM) can metabolize via a process called hydrolysis. Hydrolysis is a chemical reaction where a molecule of water breaks down a substance into one or more different substances. I first learned about heroin getting hydrolyzed into 6-AM from a website called ScienceDirect on this link. Later I learned that 6-AM would hydrolyze into morphine here. I'll also provide images below for those who prefer not to click on the links.




(The above image is from ScienceDirect where I learned heroin get hydrolyzed into 6-AM.)




(The above image is from PubMed where I learned 6-AM gets hydrolyzed into morphine.)


In case some people don't know, different substances have different process of elimination half-life.

I think it's possible for heroin and its metabolite 6-AM to reduce in amount gradually in the blood via hydrolysis after death. In the process, heroin and 6-AM would convert into morphine. I have only learned that morphine goes through the elimination half-life via glucuronidation for which the functions of the liver is required.

It should also be noted that we do not have the complete toxicology report. To get a clear idea, we have to know what other findings are in the report.

And I would finally like to add that I am not an expert or a doctor. Therefore whatever I say holds little credence. But from my research I conclude that it's not possible for morphine to reduce in amount in blood via elimination half-life after the body dies.


-Indya

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