Chinese Journal of Forensic Medicine 2010;25(1):24-26

Estimation of postmortem interval by determination of K~+ concentration in aqueous humor

Guoli LV ; Yaping ZHOU ; Zhigang LI ; Xinshu XU ; Licong YU ; Xin WANG ; He SHI ; Chuanchao XU

Keywords

forensic pathology; post-mortem interval; aqueous humor; vitreous humor; ionconcentration

Country

China

Language

Chinese

Abstract

Objective To investigate the applicability of the K~+ concentration in aqueous humor to estimate postmortem interval(PMI).Methods 30 White New-Zealand rabbit were sacrificed by air embolism and divided into 10 groups.Aqueous humor and vitreous humor were sampled at 0.5h,1h,3h,6h,8h,12h,16h,20h,and 24h after death.The concentration of potassium,sodium and calcium were analyzed by an autoanalyzer and the data were statistically processed by SPSS software for Windows.Results Increase in potassiam concentration in aqueous humor was correlated with the postmortem interval(R~2=0.956).Conclusion Measurement of potassium concentration in aqueous humor may be used for PMI estimation.