Tissue Element Levels in Rats and Postmortem İnterval

Aim: The aim of this experimental study is to determine the relationship of the element levels in different tissues and the postmortem process and the reliability of this relationship in the determination of postmortem interval. Material and method: For this purpose, 52 three-month-old male Sprague-Dawley rats were sacrified by cervical dislocation and four of them were seperated for dissection. On the other hand, remaining 48 rats were divided into two groups for the purpose of investigating surrounding temperature the corps existed to the tissue element levels. One of the groups was kept at 4 ºC and the other at 18±2 ºC. Just after sacrifice, seperated four rats were dissected. Then the dissection was made at 6., 12., 24., 48., 72. and 96. hours four rats each among the groups kept in both temperatures. Brain, myocardium, liver, kidney and skeletal muscle samples were taken from each rat. Element levels were determined by ICP-AES in the samples which were prepared for analysing with microwave digestion method. The values acquired for Ca, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Na, P, S and Zn were statistically evaluated by Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests. Results: When the findings of both temperatures were evaluated together in all tissues, it was determined that Fe, K, Na, Ca and Cu showed significant changes in more than one tissue at 4 ºC and 18±2 ºC. Conclusion: It was concluded that, the availability of tissue element levels as a reliable method in the determination of postmortem interval needs to be revealed by experimental studies that will be done on wider series and the analyses on the autopsy material.