title: Fatal trauma to the neck: immunohistochemical study of local injuries.
abstract: As fatal trauma to the neck is often associated with short survival times, proof of vitality may often be difficult using standard histochemical techniques. Soft tissue neck injuries resulting from strangulation by ligature or manual strangulation were examined immunohistochemically using antibodies to myoglobin, fibronectin, C5b-9 and MRP14, and compared to controls consisting of accidental soft tissue neck injuries as well as undamaged neck soft tissue. Although survival times in the study and control groups were unknown and certainly some individual variation may be expected in the time course of normal wound development, both the study and control groups demonstrated similar time courses in the immunohistochemical detection of antigen. Myoglobin was always found in those samples in which only one antigen was shown to be involved in an injury-specific pattern; myoglobin and fibronectin were found in samples with dual antigen involvement. Samples involving three antigens always included C5b-9 in addition to myoglobin and fibronectin. The single positive MRP14 sample in the study and control groups was simultaneously positive for the other markers used. Myoglobin, fibronectin, C5b-9 and MRP14 are therefore suitable for immunohistochemical detection of vital reactions and estimation of temporal relationships in the early posttraumatic period after neck trauma.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Legal Medicine, Hannover Medical School, Carl-Neuberg-Strasse 1, 30625 Hannover, Germany. fieguth.armin@mh-hannover.de
authors.forename: Armin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fieguth
authors.forename: Dominik
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Franz
authors.forename: Rüdiger
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lessig
authors.forename: Werner Johann
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Kleemann
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D001237:Asphyxia / Q000473:pathology; D040502:Calgranulin B / Q000032:analysis* / Q000276:immunology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D015938:Complement Membrane Attack Complex / Q000032:analysis* / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D005353:Fibronectins / Q000032:analysis* / Q000276:immunology; D005554:Forensic Medicine / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000473:pathology; D009211:Myoglobin / Q000032:analysis* / Q000276:immunology; D019838:Neck Injuries / Q000473:pathology*; D013194:Staining and Labeling
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D040502:Calgranulin B; D015938:Complement Membrane Attack Complex; D005353:Fibronectins; D009211:Myoglobin