[Microbial ATP in rat muscle tissue and its application for the estimation of postmortem interval].
OBJECTIVE
To study the relationship between the changes of microbial ATP in rat muscle tissue and the postmortem interval (PMI).


METHODS
Healthy SD rats were sacrificed and their muscles were sampled at different postmortem intervals. The concentration of microbial ATP was detected using bioluminescent assay and the data was statistically analyzed.


RESULTS
The content of microbial ATP in rat muscle tissue increased along with PMI extension and peaked on postmortem day 7, thereafter decreased gradually, but increased slightly on postmortem day 10 once again. The PMI correlated best with the content of microbial ATP in rat muscle tissue within 9 days. If the PMI was the independent variable, the cubic polynomial regression equation was y = 0.020x(3) - 0.166x(2) - 0.666x + 13.412 (r2 = 0.989, P < 0.01).


CONCLUSIONS
Changes of microbial ATP content in rat muscle tissue may be used for estimation of PMI. Since this assay requires only small amount of tissue with much less influence by self-decomposition, it may broaden the time range of PMI estimation.
Liu
Qian
Q
Department of Forensic Medicine, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, China.
Weng
Yi-Xin
YX
Yang
Fan
F
Zheng
Na
N
Liu
Liang
L
D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate / Q000378:metabolism*; D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D049429:Forensic Pathology / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000378:metabolism / Q000382:microbiology*; D011180:Postmortem Changes; D011897:Random Allocation; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013997:Time Factors
D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate