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At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1990

Postmortem changes in the levels of monoamine metabolites in human cerebrospinal fluid.

Four monoamine metabolites, 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DOPAC), homovanillic acid (HVA), 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylglycol (MHPG) and 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA), were determined in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of cadavers, whose causes of death had been suicidal hanging (SH) or ischemic heart failure (IHF). The concentration of DOPAC increased in parallel with the increment of the postmortem interval (PMI) (r = 0.626), whereas the concentrations of HVA, MHPG and 5-HIAA did not. The correlation coefficient was further increased by considering each cause of death separately: i.e., SH, r = 0.761; IHF, r = 0.705. These findings suggest the possible usefulness of the DOPAC level in CSF for estimating PMI.

3,4-Dihydroxyphenylacetic Acid↗
PubMed1977

[Postmortem changes of fine structure in the auditory pathways (organ of Corti and nucleus cochlearis of the guinea pig (author's transl)].

Autolytic changes in the guinea pig cochlear nucleus were studied by means of light- and transmission electron microscopy from 5 min. up to 5 h post mortem. Hyperchromasy and shrinking of neurons was observed already after 5 min. in areas, where the neurons have a high number of primary afferent nerve endings (Kane 1973). A second mode of post mortem degeneration was found. It was characterized by a swelling of the cell, which showed a diminished stain-ability. This lytic swelling seemed to be less rapid and probably less harmful in the beginning. The cochleae were examined by scanning electron microscopy. In contrary to known damaging agents (like noise or antibiotics) the outer haircells showed hardly any changes in the surface structures up to 1 hour in the basal coil, while lytic protrusions were observed in outer and inner haircells already after 5 min. in the apical parts. Post mortem changes in the cochlea and in the nucleus cochlearis show two different modes of autolytic degeneration.

Animals↗
PubMed1990

Postmortem changes in endothelium-dependent and independent responses of porcine coronary arteries.

1. Studies were performed in porcine left circumflex coronary arteries to determine the time course of changes in their responses to smooth muscle and endothelial cell agonists following death. 2. The pigs were kept at room temperature for 3, 6, 12 and 24 hr after death before removing the arteries, and the responses compared with fresh arteries. Rings of the arteries were mounted in organ chambers filled with modified Krebs-Ringer solution for isometric tension recording. 3. Fresh rings with endothelium relaxed with stretching, whereas 3- and 6-hr rings developed an increase in tension and often rhythmic activity. In 3-hr rings, there were diminished contractile responses to KCl and serotonin. The contractile responses to prostaglandin F2 alpha were depressed at 3 and 6 hr. 4. At 6 hr, rings from six of 14 pigs failed to contract and the responses of the other eight to histamine and serotonin but not to KCl or acetylcholine, were depressed compared to fresh rings. 5. 6 hr after death endothelium-mediated relaxations to bradykinin and calcium ionophore A-23187 were depressed while endothelium-mediated as well as direct smooth muscle relaxation by adenosine diphosphate did not change. 6. These studies indicate that caution must be observed in interpreting the findings in autopsy specimens examined as early as 3 hr after death.

Acetylcholine↗
PubMed1991

Molecular species of diacylglycerols and phosphoglycerides and the postmortem changes in the molecular species of diacylglycerols in rat brains.

The molecular species of 1,2-diacyl-sn-glycerol (DAG), phosphatidylcholine (PC), phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), phosphatidylserine (PS), phosphatidylinositol (PI), phosphatidylinositol 4-phosphate (PIP), and phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PIP2) from brains of adult rats (weighing 150 g) were determined. The DAG, isolated from brain lipid extracts by TLC, was benzoylated, and the molecular species of the purified benzoylated derivatives were separated from each other by reverse-phase HPLC. The total amount and the concentration of each species were quantified by using 1,2-distearoyl-sn-glycerol (18:0-18:0) as an internal standard. About 30 different molecular species containing different fatty acids at the sn-1 and sn-2 positions of DAG were identified in rat brains (1 min postmortem), and the predominant ones were 18:0-20:4 (35%), 16:0-18:1 (15%), 16:0-16:0 (9%), and 16:0-20:4 (8%). The molecular species of PC, PE, PS, and PI were determined by hydrolyzing the lipids with phospholipase C to DAG, which was then benzoylated and subjected to reverse-phase HPLC. PIP and PIP2 were first dephosphorylated to PI with alkaline phosphatase before hydrolysis by phospholipase C. The molecular species composition of phosphoinositides showed predominantly the 18:0-20:4 species (50% in PI and approximately 65% in PIP and PIP2). PS contained mainly the 18:0-22:6 (42%) and 18:0-18:1 (24%) species. PE was mainly composed of the 18:0-20:4 (22%), 18:0-22:6 (18%), 16:0-18:1 (15%), and 18:0-18:1 (15%) species. In PC the main molecular species were 16:0-18:1 (36%), 16:0-16:0 (19%), and 18:0-18:1 (14%). Studies on postmortem brains (30 s to 30 min) showed a rapid increase in the total amount (from 40-50 nmol/g in 0 min to 210-290 nmol/g in 30 min) and in all the molecular species of DAG. Comparatively larger increases (seven- to 10-fold) were found for the 18:0-20:4 and 16:0-20:4 species. Comparison of DAG species with the molecular species of different glycerolipids indicated that the rapid postmortem increase in content of DAG was mainly due to the breakdown of phosphoinositides. However, a slow but continuous breakdown of PC to DAG was also observed.

Animals↗
PubMed1991

[Postmortem changes after 50 years immersion (1939 reconstructed suicide)].

In September 1989 an old motor car was accidentally discovered in a lake, 50 meters below the water surface. The automobile contained the torso of an adult woman with extensive adipocere formation and the skeletonized body of a man. Forensic and criminalistic investigations lead to the identification of the deceased persons. In the year 1939 the persons together had committed suicide. The corpses were immersed for fifty years.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Postmortem changes in rat brain extracellular opioid peptides revealed by microdialysis.

Microdialysis combined with a solid-phase radioimmunoassay was used to monitor changes in extracellular opioid peptide levels in the rat globus pallidus/ventral pallidum as a result of terminal brain ischemia. Ischemia was induced by anesthetic overdose or by severance of blood vessels supplying the brain. In control animals the recovered immunoreactivity increased an average of 13-fold in the 30-min sample following anesthetic overdose. Perfusion of a calcium-free, 10 mM EGTA-containing medium through the dialysis probe significantly attenuated the amplitude of this response, with the average increase being only threefold. Shorter sampling intervals (5 min) indicated that release of opioid peptide material into the extracellular environment occurs within the first 5 min of ischemia resulting from severance of the blood supply to the brain. HPLC analysis identified the majority of the postmortem-induced immunoreactive material as Met- and Leu-enkephalin.

Anesthetics↗
PubMed1991

Postmortem changes in hapten-specific IgE antibody responses in mice.

This Study was carried out to examine the post-mortem stability of hapten-specific immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibody in mice by the passive cutaneous anaphylaxis test in rats. In vitro IgE antibody responses in blood were stable for 3 days at room temperature. Even in cases when blood could not be obtained from the cadaver it was possible to measure the hapten-specific IgE antibody response up to 3 days after death using the supernatant of the visceral homogenates.

Animals↗
PubMed1979

Alveolar-capillary membrane permeability. Correlation with functional, radiographic, and postmortem changes after fluid aspiration.

An index of permeability of the alveolar-capillary membrane was derived from the relative extraction from the lung into arterial blood of 2 tracers, 125I-antipyrine and 51Cr-ethylenediaminetetraacetate. The effect on this index of aspirating 2 ml of isotonic saline, distilled water, or 10(-1) M hydrochloric acid per kg of body weight was studied in 3 groups of rabbits. The severity and time course of changes in the permeability index were correlated with changes in lung mechanics, gas exchange, serial chest roentgenograms, ratio of extravascular lung water to dry weight, and histologic findings. Aspiration of saline produced no change in the permeability index; aspiration of water produced a large mean +/- SEM increase in the index, from a baseline of 0.025 +/- 0.002 to 1,050 +/- 0.054 (P less than 0.001), but this value returned to baseline 15 min later. After hydrochloric acid, the permeability index increased from a baseline of 0.027 +/- 0.003 to 1.068 +/- 0.098 (P less than 0.005), with no evidence of resolution after 60 min. Changes in lung mechanics, gas exchange, and roentgenograms were smallest after aspiration of distilled water and greatest after aspiration of hydrochloric acid. The functional changes after aspiration of water and saline recovered at a rate proportional to the known clearance rates of these liquids from the lung. The changes after hydrochloric acid either showed no tendency toward recovery or, in the case of the roentgenograms, worsened with time. There were no detectable histologic abnormalities or an increase in the ratio of extravascular lung water to dry weight after aspiration of water or saline, but there were extensive histologic abnormalities and a 70 per cent increase in lung water after acid. The increase in the permeability index after aspiration of water was too transient to exert a deleterious effect. In contrast, the persistence of the increase in the permeability index after hydrochloric acid was associated with persistent functional changes attributable to the considerable increase in lung water.

Animals↗
PubMed1992

[What histology is normal and abnormal in the liver?].

Normal and abnormal morphologies of the liver were histopathologically reviewed. Characteristic structure and specialized functions of the liver, and the age and life style of the patients should be taken into consideration of the evaluation of abnormal liver morphologies. The latter were generally classified into pathologic changes, nonspecific and non-significant findings, agonal changes and postmortem changes. Pathologic changes were subdivided into several categories according to their pathogenesis and etiologies. While postmortem changes lack of vital reaction, apoptosis, a programmed cell death, is also lacking inflammatory reaction. These findings should be comprehensively analyzed in the pathologic evaluation.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1990

1H-NMR studies of postmortem biochemical changes in rat skeletal muscle.

1H-nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) has been applied to the study of postmortem biochemical changes in perchloric acid extracts of rat skeletal muscle. Several metabolites have been detected and the dependence upon the postmortem time has been considered. The simultaneous quantitative determination of metabolites showing up at very low and very high fields has been suggested to yield a satisfactory delineation of the thanatochronology.

Animals↗
PubMed1992

[Effect of environmental temperature on the course of spontaneous postmortem pupillary changes (studies of the rabbit eye)].

The diameter of the pupils was measured in the bodies of rabbits under different ambient temperatures (2-4 degrees C, 10-12 degrees C, 18-20 degrees C, 28-30 degrees C). It was found that the pupils changed in three phases: Initial miosis, which set in within minutes after death, was followed by a mydriatic phase, which lasted several hours and was approximately synchronous with the post-mortem rigidity of the skeletal muscles. In the third phase the pupils slowly contracted in the course of several days. The higher the ambient temperature, the more marked was the dilatation of the pupils in the second phase. In contrast to this the reaction of the pupils was characterized by less pronounced changes in size and a longer duration of secondary mydriasis, when temperatures were low.

Animals↗
PubMed1991

[The dynamics of postmortem cellular changes. Ultrastructural-histochemical research].

Lactate dehydrogenase (LDG), glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G-6-PDG), isocitrate dehydrogenase (ICDG) as well as acid phosphatase (AcPase) activities were assessed in the rat tracheal ciliated epithelial cells using cytophotometry, combined with ultrastructural AcPase demonstration within 1 to 5 hours after animal death. A moderate gradual reduction of LDG, G-6-PDG and AcPase, but not ICDG activities has been detected in the groups of initially unaffected and hypertensive rats. The activities of all dehydrogenases progressively decreased compared to the stable AcPase values in rats which died from acute renal failure. AcPase reaction products were found to be released from the Golgi apparatus and lysosomes into the adjacent cytoplasm and across the plasma membrane. Occasionally AcPase activity emerged in the cis- and intermediate lamellae of the Golgi apparatus. The perturbations in the membrane permeability evidenced by AcPase leakage can be considered as the most likely mechanism for the observed postmortem reduction of some enzymatic activities tested.

Acid Phosphatase↗