Use of cadaveric vitreous humor as an innovative substrate for diatoms research and forensic diagnosis of drowning.

ABSTRACT

The search for diatoms is the test that most of all may contribute to the forensic diagnosis of drowning. Diatoms can be extracted through different methods, which are all complex and long. In this preliminary study, we assessed human vitreous humor as an innovative substrate on which to research diatoms. Sampling and analyses were performed on 3 groups of 10 corpses each. The first one was composed of drowned victims. The second one of victims of traffic accidents with subsequent projection in water; based on the severe traumatic injuries reported at autopsy, we considered such victims as ideally assimilable to bodies immersed in water postmortem. The third group was composed of subjects who died for natural causes and without any relationship with water. The vitreous humor was centrifugated and cytocentrifuged and spotted on two different histological slides one was left blank and the other one was assessed with hematoxylin and eosin staining. Microscopic observation successfully revealed diatoms in all cases of the first group; in the second group diatoms were not detected in 6 cases; in the third group, no diatoms at all were observed. Diatoms were always qualitatively and quantitatively consistent with those found in the corresponding viscera and waters, which had been investigated through classical acid digestion. Our analyses have demonstrated that the vitreous humor behaves in a completely similar way to the other viscera in cases of drowning. Although further investigations are necessary, vitreous humor has proved to be an innovative, suitable, and reliable substrate for the forensic research of diatoms.