Lipofuscin content in the muscle tissue during the early postmortem period: improvement of forensic diagnosis of the prescription of death coming

Forensic medicine is naturally supported by fundamental sciences, its integration with them contributing to its improvement on the whole, particularly in diagnosis of the prescription of death coming. Scientific achievements and foreign specialists in forensic medicine during recent years have made it possible to significantly deepen our sound knowledge of postmortem phenomena.

Aim: The aim of the research consisted in study of postmortem regularities in the content of lipofuscin in different types of the muscle tissue (MT) for improving accuracy of determination of prescription of death coming.

Materials and methods: The content of lipofuscin was determined in homogenates of the myocardial, oesophageal, diaphragm and intercostal muscles within the early postmortem period on 30 human corpses. MT was sampled in conditions of postmortem biopsy with use of special instruments; homogenates were prepared following the standard technique with subsequent determination of lipofuscin content in MT homogenates according. Presentation of revealed regularities in changes of lipofuscin content in each type of MT homogenates is provided by building dynamic lines with polynomials of different (2-5) stages and accuracy of reproduction R2>0.95.

Results: By results of biochemical examination of lipofuscin in different types of the MT within different terms of the early postmortem period (PMP) it was proved that its content regularly changed in all types of the above tissue. The analytical and graphical dependences of the change in the content of lipofuscin in muscle tissue within the early PMP made it possible to substantiate relevant nomograms. Limitations for using the nomogram technique are as follows: prescription of death coming more than 13 hours, unknown conditions of the stay of a corpse after the coming of death. Advantages of the technique consist in the integrity of biochemical examination of different types of MT and simplicity in interpretation of findings.

Conclusions: The application of the nomogram technique for assessing PDC by lipofuscin content in MT makes it possible to improve the accuracy of diagnosis for terms of the coming of death up to 60 minutes.