title: Postmortem interval determination using 18S-rRNA and microRNA.
abstract: The importance of determining postmortem interval (PMI) is crucial to criminal, civil and forensic cases. The precise estimation of PMI is a critical step in many death investigations. A technique exploiting the level of RNA, 18S rRNA and microRNA to estimate PMI was investigated. 18S-rRNA is a main ribosomal RNA presented as part of the ribosomal protein complex, while microRNA is a class of small non-coding single-stranded RNA, only 21-25 nucleotides, which has a strong conservation between different species. In this study, heart tissues were removed from adult rats at various postmortem intervals. An efficient extraction and detection protocol to analyze the level of 18S-rRNA and microRNA in postmortem tissue was carried out. The process consists of total RNA extraction, transcription and visualization by quantitative real time PCR. The result indicates a characteristic parabola relationship between postmortem period and Ct values for 18S-rRNA in dead rat hearts. The result indicates that the degradation pattern of tissue 18S-rRNA and microRNA is useful in the determination of the postmortem interval within seven days.
authors.affiliation: Forensic Department, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China; Shanghai City Public Security Bureau, Shanghai 200032, China.
authors.forename: Wen-Can
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Forensic Lab, Criminal Science and Technology Institute, Shanghai Public Security Bureau, Shanghai 200032, China.
authors.forename: Kai-Jun
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Forensic Department, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China.
authors.forename: Ye-Hui
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Lv
authors.affiliation: Forensic Department, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China.
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Forensic Department, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.affiliation: Forensic Department, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China.
authors.forename: Heng
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Children's Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 201102, China.
authors.forename: Hui-Jun
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Molecular Medicine, Ministry of Education, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China.
authors.forename: Duan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Forensic Department, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China.
authors.forename: Long
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D049429:Forensic Pathology; D008297:Male; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D009206:Myocardium / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D011180:Postmortem Changes; D012313:RNA; D012337:RNA, Ribosomal, 18S / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D035683:MicroRNAs; C034477:RNA primers; D012337:RNA, Ribosomal, 18S; D012313:RNA
keywords: 18S-rRNA; Postmortem interval (PMI); Reverse transcription real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR); microRNA