The Relationship between Postmortem Interval and DNA Degradation in Different Tissues of Drowned Rats

El-Harouny, Mona A; El-Dakroory, Sahar; Attalla, Sohayla M.; Hasan, Nermin A.; El-Nabi, Sobhy E. Hassab

doi:10.21608/mjfmct.2008.54094

Cited by 14 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…Similarly, Muid et al (2012) confirmed the ability of zinc phosphide to induce DNA damage in blood cells of the fowl by using comet assay.The ability of zinc phosphide to induce hepatic DNA damage seems to be related to the production of reactive oxygen species(Oghabian et al, 2016) and would be responsible for the rapidity of PM DNA denaturation in the current study. Our finding also was in agreement with El-Harouny et al (2008) who observed that PM DNA degradation in the liver of drowned rats was mild till 6h after death and become moderate at 12 h then severe at 24h after death. Moreover, obtained data revealed that the hepatic DNA lost its intactness in drowned rats earlier than those electrocuted.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

“…After death, DNA, as any biological structure, rapidly decompose under the effect of nucleases and decaying bacteria, resulting in fragmentation, base alteration, cross-linking, and other forms of degradation. The degree of DNA damage was proportionally related to time since death (Boy et al, 2003;Lin et al, 2011).The intensive evaluation for the correlation between DNA fragmentation and time elapsed after death showed that it could be seriously affected by many factors as surrounding temperature, tested tissue (El-Harouny et al, 2008),salt mummification (Shved et al, 2014),Therefore, there is a great recommendation to investigate the impact of different causes of death on rate of PM hepatic DNA degradation in order to supply forensic practitioner with data must be taken inconsideration during using of DNA degradation as method for PMI determination. In the present study, rats were subjected to death via different methods of death.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There were several earlier studies which suggested DNA degradation as an indicator for the early postmortem interval (DiNunno et al, 1998;El-Harouny et al, 2008). But the main problem, as in any biological process, that the postmortem denaturation of DNA may be influenced by several internal and/or external factors as type of examined tissue, ambient temperature, humidity, diseased conditions and bacterial or fungal contamination (McNally et al, 1989;Cina, 1994;Graw et al, 2000).To our knowledge, the cause of death as affecting factor on the rate of early postmortem DNA degradation is still poorly investigated.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Relationship between causes of death and early post mortem hepatic DNA degradation

Okle¹,

Euony²,

Sherif³

2018

Benha Veterinary Medical Journal

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The pattern of postmortem DNA degradation is frequently used as indicator of postmortem interval, but it could be affected by many internal and/or external factors. The main objective of the present study is the analysis of postmortem hepatic DNA damage in relation to time passed since death under the impact of different causes of death in order to improve our understanding about the effect of cause of death on the characters of postmortem hepatic DNA fragmentation. For this purpose, our study was carried out on four groups of rats (n=6).Animals were experimentally killed by slaughtering, electrocution, drowning and zinc phosphide poisoning, respectively. Liver samples were collected at zero, 2 h, 6 h, 12 h and 24 h postmortem time points. Analysis of postmortem DNA denaturation was undertaken using gel electrophoresis. Obtained data revealed presence of marked effect of the cause of death on the pattern of DNA smearing after death. Hepatic DNA of slaughtered rats showed the highest resistant to degradation till 24 h after death, while the poisoning by zinc phosphide enhance the rate of DNA degradation over all other groups. DNA band smearing in drowned rats appeared relatively earlier than those electrocuted, but the both occupied average site between slaughtered and zinc phosphide-intoxicated animals. It can be concluded that cause of death must be taken into account as a major factor could modify the early postmortem hepatic DNA damage.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Relationship between causes of death and early post mortem hepatic DNA degradation

Okle¹,

Euony²,

Sherif³

2018

Benha Veterinary Medical Journal

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“…41,73 Degradation of DNA was slower at 4 C compared with 20 C, and degradation occurred more slowly in the brain at both temperatures than in the liver, kidney, muscle, lung, or spleen when measured by quantitative polymerase chain reaction for 6 weeks or by electrophoresis with computer image analysis for 24 hours. 25,41 In contrast to DNA, the integrity of RNA in the brain has been variable, with some studies showing a low rate of degradation and others showing more rapid degradation compared with other tissues. 14,47 RNA degradation rate has been correlated with body mass index, with degradation rate increasing as the body mass index of the decedent increased.…”

Section: Molecular Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Postmortem Changes in Animal Carcasses and Estimation of the Postmortem Interval

Brooks

2016

Vet Pathol

133

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A thorough understanding of the physical and chemical changes that occur in the body after death is critical for accurate interpretation of gross and microscopic pathology at autopsy. Furthermore, knowledge of the postmortem processes and the factors that affect them will aid in the estimation of the postmortem interval (PMI). The estimation of the PMI is important in many human and animal death investigations. Despite many decades of research, accuracy in estimation of the time of death has not significantly improved, and no single method can be reliably used to accurately estimate the time of death. Great care should be taken when formulating such an estimate, for it is dependent on multiple circumstantial and environmental factors, and the accuracy and precision of the estimate decrease as the PMI increases. The majority of the research in the field has been conducted on human bodies, but many relevant conclusions may be drawn regarding the expected postmortem changes in animals and the estimation of the PMI. The veterinary pathologist must use great caution when attempting to extrapolate data and apply formulas designed for use in humans. Methods reviewed include gross changes, microscopic changes, temperature-based methods, postmortem chemistry, molecular methods, microbial assay, ocular changes, radiography, entomology, and others. Although only several of these methods are currently practical for use in the workup of cases, it is expected that future research will result in improved techniques with enhanced accuracy in the estimation of the PMI, which will benefit both human and veterinary forensic investigations.

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“…After the publication of epigenetic preservation of methylation patterns in archeological subjects (Llamas et al, 2012 ) the preservability of epigenetic readings seemed secured, if the DNA was amplifiable. DNA stability in Post mortem tissue has been investigated extensively already (Bär et al, 1988 ; El-Harouny et al, 2009 ). Studies by Barrachina and Ferrer et al describe the preserved epigenetic analysis quality of brain tissue up to a PMI of 48 h (simulated) for two genes (Barrachina and Ferrer, 2009 ) as well as the general ambiguity involved with the already mentioned interindividuality of samples in respect to protein, RNA and DNA degradation (Ferrer et al, 2008 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

DNA methylation results depend on DNA integrityâ€”role of post mortem interval

et al. 2015

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Major questions of neurological and psychiatric mechanisms involve the brain functions on a molecular level and cannot be easily addressed due to limitations in access to tissue samples. Post mortem studies are able to partly bridge the gap between brain tissue research retrieved from animal trials and the information derived from peripheral analysis (e.g., measurements in blood cells) in patients. Here, we wanted to know how fast DNA degradation is progressing under controlled conditions in order to define thresholds for tissue quality to be used in respective trials. Our focus was on the applicability of partly degraded samples for bisulfite sequencing and the determination of simple means to define cut-off values. After opening the brain cavity, we kept two consecutive pig skulls at ambient temperature (19–21°C) and removed cortex tissue up to a post mortem interval (PMI) of 120 h. We calculated the percentage of degradation on DNA gel electrophoresis of brain DNA to estimate quality and relate this estimation spectrum to the quality of human post mortem control samples. Functional DNA quality was investigated by bisulfite sequencing of two functionally relevant genes for either the serotonin receptor 5 (SLC6A4) or aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2). Testing our approach in a heterogeneous collective of human blood and brain samples, we demonstrate integrity of measurement quality below the threshold of 72 h PMI. While sequencing technically worked for all timepoints irrespective of conceivable DNA degradation, there is a good correlation between variance of methylation to degradation levels documented in the gel (R2 = 0.4311, p = 0.0392) for advancing post mortem intervals (PMI). This otherwise elusive phenomenon is an important prerequisite for the interpretation and evaluation of samples prior to in-depth processing via an affordable and easy assay to estimate identical sample quality and thereby comparable methylation measurements.

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The Relationship between Postmortem Interval and DNA Degradation in Different Tissues of Drowned Rats

Cited by 14 publications

References 9 publications

Relationship between causes of death and early post mortem hepatic DNA degradation

Relationship between causes of death and early post mortem hepatic DNA degradation

Postmortem Changes in Animal Carcasses and Estimation of the Postmortem Interval

DNA methylation results depend on DNA integrityâ€”role of post mortem interval

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