User:Sophiepat/Post-mortem chemistry

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Vitreous Humor Analysis[edit]

The vitreous humor is four to five milliliters of colorless gel in the vitreous body of the eye. Because of its location in the protective environment of the eye socket and the inert nature of the vitreous humor, it is resistant to some of the post-mortem changes that occur in the rest of the body. This is what makes it useful in determining the time since death, along with the fact that it is not affected by age, sex, or cause of death. One of the reasons sampling vitreous humour is common is because if thee sample being taken for examination is not in contact with blood it can then be clinically tested at a much lower cost. The viscosity of the vitreous humour will be increased after time of death due to water escaping.  This requires for the sample to follow certain preparation steps before it can be used for analysis. Standard treatment prior to use of the sample might be required for the accuracy of pipetting. Such as diluting, centrifuging, heating and even the addition of certain analytes.

It is also useful as a source of DNA or for diagnosing diseases. The vitreous humor contains various electrolytes, including but not limited to sodium, potassium, chlorine, calcium, and magnesium. The concentrations of these electrolytes can be measured with analyzers and related to the time since death with various equations. There are various equations because each study has different results, which results in different equations. This is because there are so many factors and differences in experiments that a single equation cannot be determined to be better than the rest. One of these factors is temperature. At higher temperatures, the concentrations are less stable and the degradation of the sample speeds up. The temperature can be controlled once a sample is in the lab, but until then, the body will be the same temperature as the environment it was in. If the same equation is used for a sample that was not kept cold, then the result will not be accurate if the equation is for samples kept cold. Even though different equations have been found, the general trends are in agreement. As the time of death increases, the potassium concentration in the vitreous humor rises, and the sodium and calcium concentrations fall. The ratio of potassium to sodium decreases linearly with time. The reason that the potassium levels rise after death is because of a leak in the cell membrane that allows the concentration to reach equilibrium with the potassium levels in the blood plasma. This method is not exact, but a good estimate for the time since death can be obtained. Copied from [[Post-mortem chemistry}}.

Post-Mortem Biochemistry[edit]

Blood pH and concentrations of several chemicals are tested in a corpse to help determine the time of death of the victim, also known as the post-mortem interval. These chemicals include lactic acid, hypoxanthine, uric acid, ammonia, NADH and formic acid.

The decrease in the concentration of oxygen because of the lack of circulation causes a dramatic switch from aerobic to anaerobic metabolism. Copied from [[Post-mortem chemistry}}.

This type of analysis can be used to help diagnose various different types of deaths such as: drowning, anaphylactic shock, hypothermia or any deaths related to alcohol or diabetes. Although these types of diagnosis become very difficult because of the changes to the body and biochemical measurements vary after death.