Double logarithmic, linear relationship between plasma sodium/potassium concentration ratio and postmortem interval during the 6-96-h postmortem period in rats.
Flame photometric determination of sodium and potassium concentrations in postmortem rat plasma (n = 40) revealed the existence of a linear and inverse relationship, of high correlation (r = -0.986; P less than 0.001), between the logarithm of the plasma sodium/potassium concentration ratio (PNa/PK) and the logarithm of postmortem interval (PMI) during the 6-96-h postmortem period. This relationship, which has not been reported previously in the forensic literature, offers a simple and potentially valuable means of estimating the PMI in man.
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Department of Physiology, University of Cape Town Medical School, Observatory, Republic of South Africa.
D000818:Animals; D008297:Male; D008433:Mathematics; D010783:Photometry; D011180:Postmortem Changes; D011188:Potassium / Q000097:blood*; D011897:Random Allocation; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012964:Sodium / Q000097:blood*
D012964:Sodium; D011188:Potassium