Laboratory Testing
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Blood Drug Analysis

Blood is a slightly alkaline fluid made up of water, cells, enzymes, proteins, and inorganic substances that circulate throughout the vascular system carrying nourishment and transporting oxygen and waste.

The most fluid portion of blood consists of plasma, which is mostly water, and serum, which is yellowish and contains white cells and platelets. The most non-fluid portion of blood consists of red cells which outnumber white cells by five hundred to one. While medical scientists are more interested in white cells, forensic scientists are more interested in red cells and secondly with serum.

With serum, the analyst can determine the freshness of a blood sample because serum clots several minutes after exposure to air (a centrifuge is necessary to separate clotted material from the rest of serum). Also found in serum are antibodies, which have important forensic implications.

With red cells, the analyst looks for smaller substances residing on their surfaces, such as antigens, which have important forensic implications. One might even say that forensic serology is all about antigens and antibodies, but that is the domain of immunology.