title: Stability of plasma total cholesterol, triglycerides, and apolipoproteins B and A-I during the early postmortem period.
abstract: The stability of plasma lipids and apolipoproteins during the early postmortem period was studied by taking four duplicate blood samples from eight cadavers 2, 6, 12, and 24 h after death. The bodies were kept at +4 degrees C. The plasma samples were analyzed for total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), apolipoprotein B (apo B), and apolipoprotein A-I (apo A-I). In TC, values rose by 6 and 11% in two cases, and in six cases diminished 3 to 15% during the first 6 h compared to values obtained 2 h postmortem. The greatest changes were a continuing rise in one case by 33% and a fall by 21% in another case during 24 h. In TG values marked changes took place including one case with a rise of 67% within 24 h. The concentrations of apo B rose by 9 to 11% in three cases and fell by 3 and 4% in two cases during 6 h, but during the whole study period a rise up to 78% occurred. In the concentrations of apo A-I, cases fell by as much as 42% in 6 h, and in one case rose by 20% during 6 h. The results indicate that unpredictable fluctuations occur in plasma lipid and apolipoprotein values within 24 h after death, and they should be interpreted cautiously if the samples have been taken after a prolonged postmortem period.
authors.affiliation: Department of Forensic Medicine, University of Oulu, Finland.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Särkioja
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ylä-Herttuala
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Solakivi
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nikkari
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hirvonen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016632:Apolipoprotein A-I; D001053:Apolipoproteins / Q000097:blood*; D001054:Apolipoproteins A / Q000097:blood; D001055:Apolipoproteins B / Q000097:blood; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000097:blood; D006801:Humans; D008055:Lipids / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011180:Postmortem Changes; D013997:Time Factors; D014280:Triglycerides / Q000097:blood
chemical_list: D016632:Apolipoprotein A-I; D001053:Apolipoproteins; D001054:Apolipoproteins A; D001055:Apolipoproteins B; D008055:Lipids; D014280:Triglycerides; D002784:Cholesterol