Relationship between causes of death and early post mortem hepatic DNA degradation

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, Faculty of Veterinary medicine, Alexandria University, Egypt

2 Department of Genetics, Faculty of Veterinary medicine, Damanhur University, Egypt

Abstract

The pattern of postmortem DNA degradation is frequently used as indicator of postmortem interval, but it could be affected by many internal and/or external factors. The main objective of the present study is the analysis of postmortem hepatic DNA damage in relation to time passed since death under the impact of different causes of death in order to improve our understanding about the effect of cause of death on the characters of postmortem hepatic DNA fragmentation. For this purpose, our study was carried out on four groups of rats (n=6).Animals were experimentally killed by slaughtering, electrocution, drowning and zinc phosphide poisoning, respectively. Liver samples were collected at zero, 2 h, 6 h, 12 h and 24 h postmortem time points. Analysis of postmortem DNA denaturation was undertaken using gel electrophoresis. Obtained data revealed presence of marked effect of the cause of death on the pattern of DNA smearing after death. Hepatic DNA of slaughtered rats showed the highest resistant to degradation till 24 h after death, while the poisoning by zinc phosphide enhance the rate of DNA degradation over all other groups. DNA band smearing in drowned rats appeared relatively earlier than those electrocuted, but the both occupied average site between slaughtered and zinc phosphide-intoxicated animals. It can be concluded that cause of death must be taken into account as a major factor could modify the early postmortem hepatic DNA damage. 

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