Postmortem catecholamine levels in pericardial and cerebrospinal fluids with regard to the cause of death in medicolegal autopsy

Abstract

Previous studies have suggested that postmortem serum catecholamine levels reflect the magnitude of physical stress responses or toxic/hyperthermic neuronal dysfunction during the death process. The present study investigated postmortem adrenaline (Adr), noradrenaline (Nad), and dopamine (DA) levels in pericardial fluid (PCF) and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) with regard to the cause of death, compared with right heart blood levels, in serial medicolegal autopsy cases with a postmortem time within 48h (n=494). Correlations between PCF and CSF Adr levels, and those among right heart blood, PCF, and CSF DA levels were marked (r=0.66–0.83, p<0.0001), but were otherwise lower (r=0.22–0.44). With regard to the cause of death, Adr and Nad levels in PCF, CSF, and right heart blood mostly presented similar findings: these levels were generally high in injury, intoxication, and hyperthermia (heatstroke), but were low in hypothermia (cold exposure). DA levels at each site were higher in injury and intoxication. In addition, higher levels were detected for Nad levels in sharp instrument injury, as well as Adr, Nad, and DA in carbon monoxide intoxication at each site, and for CSF Nad in psychotropic drug intoxication. These findings suggest that characteristic elevations in Adr, Nad, and DA levels in PCF and CSF are involved in systemic responses to fatal stress and toxic neuronal dysfunction, reflecting the magnitude of such responses in individual cases.