Abstract

Assessment of the vitality of an injury is one of to the main tasks in daily forensic casework. Aquaporins belong to the family of water channels. They enable the transport of water and of small molecules like glycerol through biological channels. So far, 13 classes of aquaporins are identified in vertebrates. The classical aquaporin channels 1, 2 and 4 are only permeable for water. The aquaporin channels 3, 7, 9 and 10 are also called aquaglycerolporins since they can also transport glycerol. Aquaporin 3 is expressed in epidermal keratinocytes. In the present investigation, the aquaporin 1 and 3 expression in mechanically and thermally damaged skin is investigated by immunohistochemistry. The study collective comprises 30 cases (63.3% male and 36.7% female) with an age range between 19 and 95 years (mean value 54.6 years). The skin injury comprises different kinds of blunt force, sharp force, strangulation marks, thermal injury, gunshot wounds and frost erythema. In all kinds of mechanical and trauma injury, an increased expression of aquaporin 3 in the keratinocytes of the epidermis was found. There is no correlation of the aquaporin 3 expression with age, sex, body mass index, duration of agonal period and postmortem interval. Concerning aquaporin 1, there were no differences between injured and uninjured skin. Aquaporin 3 is independently from the kind of skin injury and appears to be a valuable immunohistochemical parameter of vitality.

Highlights

  • Assessment of the vitality of an injury belongs to the main tasks in daily forensic casework

  • The aquaporin 1 and 3 expression in mechanically and thermally damaged skin is investigated by immunohistochemistry

  • Based on the result of the Mann–Whitney-U-test (p = 0,007), the AQP3 expression was significantly higher in injured skin compared to the uninjured skin

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Summary

Introduction

Assessment of the vitality of an injury belongs to the main tasks in daily forensic casework. In the forensic context, wound vitality is closely related to tissue repair In this context, the early tissue repair that occurs right after an injury may be described as vital reaction [1]. The process of wound healing is quite similar in different tissues and may be subdivided into different phases Due to this similar process, a determination of the wound-age is possible. The wound-age corresponds with the Institute of Legal Medicine, University Hospital Bonn, Stiftsplatz 12, 53111 Bonn, Germany time between the trauma and time of death. It describes the time of survival of an individual [4]

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