title: Postmortem neopterin concentrations: comparison of diagnoses with and without cellular immunological background.
abstract: Increased neopterin levels in urine and serum of living humans indicate an activation of the cellular immune system. We investigated 119 urine and 48 serum samples from 129 corpses taken at necropsy; 29 cases with a background of cellular immune activation were compared to 100 corpses with no such indication. Our investigations show the feasibility of postmortem neopterin measurements. However, different kinetics of serum and urine concentrations after death were observed. In addition, the data show that urine and serum neopterin concentrations were significantly higher when cellular immunological abnormalities were present when compared to the control group and to living healthy controls. The findings suggest, that increased postmortem urine neopterin concentrations in necropsy indicate pathological processes linked with cellular immune activation.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Forensic Medicine, University of Innsbruck, Austria.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ambach
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Tributsch
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Rabl
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Fuchs
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Reibnegger
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Henn
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wachter
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001344:Autopsy; D001708:Biopterins / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000097:blood / Q000493:pharmacokinetics / Q000652:urine; D002423:Cause of Death; D002648:Child; D003404:Creatinine / Q000097:blood / Q000652:urine; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D005554:Forensic Medicine / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation / Q000276:immunology*; D008264:Macrophages / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019798:Neopterin; D011180:Postmortem Changes; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D001708:Biopterins; D019798:Neopterin; D003404:Creatinine