NCJ Number
121238
Journal
Canadian Society of Forensic Science Journal Volume: 22 Issue: 2 Dated: (June 1989) Pages: 109-117
Date Published
1989
Length
9 pages
Annotation
Gender determination from the fragmented skeletal remains of adults in which sexually diagnostic elements are lacking, and from the skeletons of children in whom sexual differentiation of the skeleton has not yet occurred, is difficult if not impossible to accomplish.
Abstract
Two potential solutions to this problems are investigated here. Researchers outside of North America report that the staining properties of sex chromatin in tooth pulp cells have proved useful in gender differentiation as much as four years after death, even in varied microdepositional environments. An alternative sexual marker identifiable in tooth pulp, the male histocompatibility-Y (H-Y) component of cell membranes, has been successfully detected by immunocytochemical techniques, although not in a forensic context. Of the two techniques, H-Y antigen holds the greater possibility for long-term preservation of a gender specific element. The techniques for both X and Y chromatin and H-Y determination which are described here, are being designed to test their applicability in British Columbia, which possesses both very dry and very wet environments. Preliminary results show that both X and Y sex chromatin can be detected in pulp tissue dried at room temperature for as long as one year and probably longer. However, coastal wet seasonal burials and ground surface exposure of teeth reveal tissue loss or pulpal liquefication in less than one month. 3 figures, 29 references. (Publisher abstract)