[Postmortem changes of liver phosphofructokinase-2 level in rats following different causes of death].

OBJECTIVE: To study the changes of liver phosphofructokinase-2 (PFK-2) level at different postmortem intervals as well as due to different causes of death. METHODS: One hundred and five rats were randomly divided into 3 groups and the rats were sacrificed by either bleeding, suffocating, and neck breaking, respectively. The content of liver PFK-2 at 0, 1, 2, 4, 8, 12 and 24 hours following death were studied using immunohistochemishtry and image analysis. RESULTS: PFK-2 content of the rat's liver in all 3 groups showed a linear decrease at different postmortem intervals with no significant statistical differences found between the different groups. CONCLUSION: PFK-2 level in rat liver appears to decrease linearly in correlation with prolonged PMI.