Applicability of histologic post-mortem changes of labial mucosa in estimation of time of death – a preliminary study

Abstract

Determining the time of death is a constant dilemma in forensic medicine. While age-old conventional methods are adequate for estimation of time of death during routine medico legal autopsies, newer methods are being investigated. The present study aims to evaluate light-microscopically observable ‘degenerations’ of labial mucosa at varying post-mortem intervals. Labial mucosa samples obtained from 31 non-refrigerated cadavers at varied post-mortem intervals (0–8 hrs, 8–16 hrs and 16–24 hrs) were evaluated for histologic post-mortem changes in the epithelium and connective tissue. The early changes in the epithelium included homogenization, eosinophilia, nuclear changes while cytoplasmic vacuolation, shredding, ballooning, acanthosis, epithelial degeneration and split were observed in the later post-mortem intervals (16–24 hrs). Reduction of the submucosal compartment was the earliest manifestation observed in the connective tissue along with disruption of collagen, adipose tissue and muscle. Increased spacing between muscle layers, loss of striations, salivary gland disruption, fibroblast vacuolation, clumping of RBCs within the blood vessels were also noted. Histological findings, such as nuclear changes, changes in epithelium, salivary gland degeneration and disruption of muscle in selected oral mucosal biopsies, may be useful in estimating the time of death in the early post-mortem interval (up to 24 hrs).