NCJ Number
223404
Journal
Journal of Forensic Sciences Volume: 53 Issue: 3 Dated: May 2008 Pages: 730-733
Date Published
May 2008
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This study analyzed free amino acids in vitreous humor and cerebrospinal fluid from 58 cadavers in the course of routine medicolegal autopsies in Granada, Spain, in order to determine whether free amino acids contents in these fluids were related to the cause of death, postmortem interval, and severity of the classic signs of asphyxia.
Abstract
The study found no statistically significant difference in vitreous amino acid concentrations when the various causes of death were considered. Specifically, there was no statistically significant relationship when researchers plotted asphyxial score against the vitreous content of each amino acid (aspartic acid, glutamic acid, serine, glutamine, glycine/threonin/histidine, citruline, arginine, alanine, taurine, GABA, tirosine, valine, methionine, isoleucine, phenylalanine/tryptophan, leucine, and lysine). As expected, the asphyxial score was higher in asphyxia and poisoning death, most of the latter due to pulmonary failure from drug abuse than in traumatic and miscellaneous deaths. Regarding postmortem interval, a statistically significant increase with time was observed in vitreous concentrations of taurine, glutamate, and particularly in aspartate. The amino acids were quantified by high performance liquid chromatography. Further studies are needed with larger sample sizes, cerebrospinal fluid obtained by suboccipital cisternal puncture, and an improved classification of the cause of death and asphyxial score system. 4 figures and 23 references