title: [Postmortem pathological changes of actin in skeletal muscles of rats].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the morphologic changes of actin in skeletal muscles of rats associated with postmortem interval (PMI).
  
  
  METHODS
  The morphologic changes of actin filament in the skeletal muscles (adductor magnus of right hind leg) of 28 rats were observed by laser scanning confocal microscope (LSCM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM) at different postmortem intervals (0, 24, 48, 72, 96, 120 and 168 h).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The TEM revealed that actin filament began to disintegrate with the lapse of PMI, and eventually the structure of sarcomere and actin filament disappeared. The LSCM showed depletion of anti-actin antibody staining in the skeletal muscles and the extent of staining decreased with extension of PMI correlatively (Y = 0.934-0.005X, R2 = 0.95, P < 0.05). The content of actin positive products reduced with PMI (P < 0.05). No actin positive products were detected 168 h after death.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The morphologic changes of actin filament in skeletal muscles may become a useful indicator for the estimation of death time.
authors.affiliation: Shanxi College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Taiyuan 030024, China.
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Yu-Chuan
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Miao
authors.forename: Ying-Yuan
authors.initials: YY
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000199:Actins / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D049429:Forensic Pathology; D008297:Male; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D011180:Postmortem Changes; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley
chemical_list: D000199:Actins