title: Documentation of postmortem changes in salivary gland architecture and staining characteristics.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Estimation of time passed since death continues to be a major problem for the forensic pathologist and its determination plays an important and vital role in medico-legal cases. The histological studies on various tissues after death have been mostly confined to single organ or tissue by individual workers at different atmospheric conditions.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study is to determine the best rehydrating solution for dehydrated tissues in postmortem examination.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study was specific to salivary gland tissues and certain pattern of changes were determined during postmortem time intervals using hematoxylin and eosin stain and special stains like mucicarmine and alcian blue.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study was divided into two groups. (1) Group A: Normal tissue samples (twenty normal salivary gland tissue samples left without fixation for varying periods of time). (2) Group B: Control group (twenty normal salivary gland tissue samples immediately fixed in formalin). The three different rehydrating agents used in this study were glycerol, normal saline and modified Ruffer solution.
  
  
  METHODS
  Not required.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Modified Ruffer solution is the best when compared to glycerol and normal saline for rehydration of dehydrated tissues.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Thus in our study we conclude that the tissue which had been dehydrated at the crime scene for a fairly long period showed better rehydration with modified Ruffer solution and yield good cellular and nuclear details.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Pathology and Microbiology, Datta Meghe Institute of Medical Sciences, Wardha, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: Swati
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Agarwal
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Pathology and Microbiology, Datta Meghe Institute of Medical Sciences, Wardha, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: Minal
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chaudhary
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Pathology and Microbiology, Datta Meghe Institute of Medical Sciences, Wardha, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: Madhuri
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gawande
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Surat Municipal Institute of Medical Education and Research, Surat, Gujarat, India.
authors.forename: Puneet
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gupta
keywords: Alcian blue; forensic; modified Ruffer solution; mucicarmine; postmortem; stain