Metabolomics investigation of post-mortem human pericardial fluid.
Int J Legal Med
; 137(6): 1875-1885, 2023 Nov.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-37402012
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION:
Due to its peculiar anatomy and physiology, the pericardial fluid is a biological matrix of particular interest in the forensic field. Despite this, the available literature has mainly focused on post-mortem biochemistry and forensic toxicology, while to the best of authors' knowledge post-mortem metabolomics has never been applied. Similarly, estimation of the time since death or post-mortem interval based on pericardial fluids has still rarely been attempted.OBJECTIVES:
We applied a metabolomic approach based on 1H nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy to ascertain the feasibility of monitoring post-mortem metabolite changes on human pericardial fluids with the aim of building a multivariate regression model for post-mortem interval estimation.METHODS:
Pericardial fluid samples were collected in 24 consecutive judicial autopsies, in a time frame ranging from 16 to 170 h after death. The only exclusion criterion was the quantitative and/or qualitative alteration of the sample. Two different extraction protocols were applied for low molecular weight metabolites selection, namely ultrafiltration and liquid-liquid extraction. Our metabolomic approach was based on the use of 1H nuclear magnetic resonance and multivariate statistical data analysis.RESULTS:
The pericardial fluid samples treated with the two experimental protocols did not show significant differences in the distribution of the metabolites detected. A post-mortem interval estimation model based on 18 pericardial fluid samples was validated with an independent set of 6 samples, giving a prediction error of 33-34 h depending on the experimental protocol used. By narrowing the window to post-mortem intervals below 100 h, the prediction power of the model was significantly improved with an error of 13-15 h depending on the extraction protocol. Choline, glycine, ethanolamine, and hypoxanthine were the most relevant metabolites in the prediction model.CONCLUSION:
The present study, although preliminary, shows that PF samples collected from a real forensic scenario represent a biofluid of interest for post-mortem metabolomics, with particular regard to the estimation of the time since death.
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Base de datos:
MEDLINE
Tipo de estudio:
Prognostic_studies
/
Qualitative_research
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Int J Legal Med
Asunto de la revista:
JURISPRUDENCIA
Año:
2023
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Italia