The nomogram technique for determining the prescription of death coming by the content of acid phosphatase in the muscle tissue

Abstract

Criminologists and medical examiners in practice are interested in the existence of reliable, stable criteria that would allow to unambiguously interpret certain post-mortem phenomena observed in the body, and which would allow to determine the age of death. The aim of the study was to study the postmortem patterns of acid phosphatase in muscle tissue (MT) of various types to improve the accuracy of determining the age of death. Materials and methods. Determination of acid phosphatase content is performed in homogenates of myocardial, esophageal, diaphragm and intercostal muscles in the early postmortem period (PMP) (3-13 hours after death) in 30 human corpses. MT sampling was performed in the conditions of sectional biopsy with the use of special tools, preparation of MT homogenates – according to the standard method with subsequent determination of MT phosphatase content in MT homogenates by kinetic method. Results. Analysis of postmortem changes in the content of acid phosphatase in MT depending on the time periods of the determining the age of death revealed that after 3 hours from the moment of death its content was the highest in a myocardium, the smallest – in MT of intercostal muscles (accordingly – 3,475±0,057 units/g and 2,662±0,028 units/g, p <0,001). The general pattern of acid phosphatase content in MT of different types was characterized by an increase in the content with increasing the age of death terms. In addition, the time series of changes in the acid phosphatase content obtained by us became the basis for substantiating the quantitative time dependences and constructing appropriate nomograms for forensic diagnosis of determining the age of death by the acid phosphatase content in MT. Conclusions. It is proved that the content of acid phosphatase naturally (and nonlinearly) changed in all studied homogenates of MT, but the initial and final level of acid phosphatase, depending on the type of MT differs. In addition, the dynamics of changes in the content of acid phosphatase in the time period 3÷13 hours. from the moment of death, depending on the type of MT, also varies. The quantitative analytical and graphical dependences of the change in the content of acid phosphatase in MT in the early PMP revealed in the study allowed to substantiate the corresponding nomograms.