Postmortem evaluation of cholesterol, triglyceride, and apolipoprotein levels

Abstract

Cholesterol and triglyceride levels have been analyzed in the forensic setting and their values correlated with atherosclerotic lesions found at autopsy and histology. Nevertheless, the results of these investigations have provided diverging information on postmortem molecule stability and postmortem measurement reliability. The aim of this study was to determine triglycerides, total cholesterol, low-density and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, apolipoprotein B, and apolipoprotein A-I in antemortem and postmortem serum samples in a series of cases (N = 10, including cardiac and noncardiac deaths) that underwent forensic investigations and had both samples available, measure the same molecules in postmortem serum from femoral blood and pericardial and pleural fluids (N = 39, including cardiac and noncardiac deaths), and evaluate whether different levels of these molecules could be observed in cases characterized by different degrees of coronary artery atherosclerosis (N = 39, including cardiac and noncardiac deaths). Preliminary results indicated that total cholesterol and low-density and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels in postmortem serum samples tended to be lower than those in antemortem specimens, whereas triglyceride levels in postmortem serum samples tended to be higher than those in antemortem samples. No relationship could be found between postmortem serum and pericardial fluid levels or between postmortem serum and pleural fluid levels of all tested biomarkers. Lastly, cases characterized by severe coronary artery atherosclerosis revealed higher postmortem serum levels of total cholesterol and apolipoprotein B. Globally considered, these data confirm that femoral blood postmortem serum levels of cholesterol and apolipoproteins may be considered suitable to estimate their antemortem values in forensic cases characterized by coronary artery atherosclerosis.

Establishing post mortem criteria for the metabolic syndrome: an autopsy based cross-sectional study

“…Measuring and interpreting the PM biochemical analyses posed several challenges. The total cholesterol decreases PM leaving only elevated concentrations interpretable [ 34 , 35 ]. Since none of our subjects had a total cholesterol above 4.0 mmol/L, our findings may corroborate the challenge of analysing cholesterol in PM samples.…”

“…Since none of our subjects had a total cholesterol above 4.0 mmol/L, our findings may corroborate the challenge of analysing cholesterol in PM samples. The levels of PM TG have been reported to be affected by too many variables to make it useful for interpretation [ 34 , 35 ]. In line with the study by Girard et al [ 35 ], the measured TG in our study increased with PMI.…”

“…The levels of PM TG have been reported to be affected by too many variables to make it useful for interpretation [ 34 , 35 ]. In line with the study by Girard et al [ 35 ], the measured TG in our study increased with PMI. Moreover, the reference values of cholesterol and TG in the living are frequently based on a premise of fasting.…”

Accurate and Efficient Lipoprotein Detection Based on the HCR–DNAzyme Platform

“…Among these methods, HCR is a kind of toehold-mediated strand displacement reaction, and the linear DNA nanostructures are formed through cross-opening and self-assembling of two dsDNA . Thus, HCR shows a unique charm due to its nonenzymatic and isothermal features, simple operation, and superior amplification efficiency. , Additionally, a DNAzyme is an essential nuclear acid with fascinating catalysis functions. − It could imitate protein enzymes and catalyze many reactions including ligation or hydrolyzation. RNA-cleaving DNAzyme, as a member of the DNAzyme family, can digest phosphodiester bonds between DNA molecules − and integrate other functional DNA sequences to improve its efficiency.…”

“…17 Thus, HCR shows a unique charm due to its nonenzymatic and isothermal features, simple operation, and superior amplification efficiency. 18,19 Additionally, a DNAzyme is an essential nuclear acid with fascinating catalysis functions. 20−22 It could imitate protein enzymes and catalyze many reactions including ligation or hydrolyzation.…”