Role of glandular hormones in estimating time passed since death: histological and biochemical examination (an experimental study)

ABSTRACT

One of the most common and difficult questions that a forensic practitioner faces is the estimation of time since death. The goal of this study is to investigate the post-mortem interval in relation to degenerative histological alterations and biochemical hormonal analysis of follicular stimulating hormone (FSH), dihydrotestosterone (DHT), testosterone (T) and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) in pituitary, testicular and adrenal glands respectively. One hundred adult male albino rats were divided into five groups (0, 1, 5, 10 and 15 days post-mortem groups). The glands showed normal histological structure at time of death. Autolysis started in the glands within 1 day post-mortem (PM) and became marked with increase post-mortem interval. FSH level in pituitary gland, T hormone and DHT levels in testicular gland and DHEA level in adrenal gland revealed statistically significant reductions by ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) with increased post-mortem interval. Glandular hormones proved to be a useful parameter consistent with the histopathological changes for the estimation of post-mortem interval from the pituitary, adrenal and testicular glands. New equations for estimation of the post-mortem interval (PMI) were performed and appeared to be useful in estimating the post-mortem interval.

KEYWORDS:

• Post-mortem interval
• FSH
• testosterone
• DHT
• DHEA

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Dr Mostafa Mohamed Asem for his efficient assistance and great effort in statistical analysis.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.