Distinctive thanatomicrobiome signatures found in the blood and internal organs of humans

Gastrointestinal (GI) Tract Microbes and Microbial Neurotoxins in the Human Central Nervous System (CNS) in Alzheimer’s Disease (AD)

“…Evidence for the possible existence of a brain microbiome comes from the study at the point of death that the thanatomicrobiome (after the Greek 'thanatos'=death; the microbiome that appears and subsequently proliferates at the time of death) plays a primary role in the rapid decomposition and decay of host tissues [34,[56][57][58][59][60][61]. In the Western world death is defined as the complete loss and irreversible absence of brain activity including involuntary activities (such as heartbeat and breathing) necessary to sustain life [56][57][58]. To satisfy the legal criterion of brain death, two isoelectric electroencephalograms (flat-line or zero line EEG; ZLEEG) must be demonstrated 24 h apart [56][57][58][59][60].…”

“…In the Western world death is defined as the complete loss and irreversible absence of brain activity including involuntary activities (such as heartbeat and breathing) necessary to sustain life [56][57][58]. To satisfy the legal criterion of brain death, two isoelectric electroencephalograms (flat-line or zero line EEG; ZLEEG) must be demonstrated 24 h apart [56][57][58][59][60]. As a human body decomposes, microbes proliferate in the brain and other organs in a time-dependent manner and as a human body decays the thanatomicrobiome shifts in its microbial character from that normally encountered in the healthy GI tract microbiome [34,57,58].…”

“…To satisfy the legal criterion of brain death, two isoelectric electroencephalograms (flat-line or zero line EEG; ZLEEG) must be demonstrated 24 h apart [56][57][58][59][60]. As a human body decomposes, microbes proliferate in the brain and other organs in a time-dependent manner and as a human body decays the thanatomicrobiome shifts in its microbial character from that normally encountered in the healthy GI tract microbiome [34,57,58]. At this point in time the microbial species that constitute the thanatomicrobiome 'core' begin to rapidly proliferate in large part due to of a dysfunctional innate-immune system.…”

Postmortem Internal Gas Reservoir Monitoring Using GC×GC-HRTOF-MS

“…Some of the sampling locations (i.e., organ containing a gas reservoir) were comparable in both cases; however, they did not cluster in the same way on the HCA dendrogram. Due to the fact that there are a variety of extraneous factors that can influence decomposition VOC profiles, it is hypothesized that the differences in trends could be resulting from various postmortem factors (e.g., cause of death, postmortem interval, location of death [24][25][26][27]) or antemortem factors (e.g., health conditions, origin, lifestyle, gender, height, weight, diet, medications taken) which can both influence the thanatomicrobiome responsible for alteration gas generation [28]. In the case of body 4, the body was in a fresher state of decomposition compared to body 1 and body 3 (Table 1); therefore, it is suspected that one of the major contributing factors to the difference in trends within each body was likely the PMI.…”

“…In the case of body 4, the body was in a fresher state of decomposition compared to body 1 and body 3 (Table 1); therefore, it is suspected that one of the major contributing factors to the difference in trends within each body was likely the PMI. antemortem factors (e.g., health conditions, origin, lifestyle, gender, height, weight, diet, medications taken) which can both influence the thanatomicrobiome responsible for alteration gas generation [28]. In the case of body 4, the body was in a fresher state of decomposition compared to body 1 and body 3 (Table 1); therefore, it is suspected that one of the major contributing factors to the difference in trends within each body was likely the PMI.…”