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The rate of RNA degradation in human dental pulp reveals post-mortem interval.

Authors :
Poór, Viktor
Lukács, Dénes
Nagy, Tamás
Rácz, Evelin
Sipos, Katalin
Source :
International Journal of Legal Medicine; May2016, Vol. 130 Issue 3, p615-619, 5p
Publication Year :
2016

Abstract

Post-mortem interval (PMI) is the amount of time elapsed since the time of death. Over the years, many methods were developed to assess PMI, but their precision and time frame of applicability are often limited. Our present pilot study aimed to prove if RNA degradation of human dental pulp can be used for PMI estimation. RNA was isolated from the pulps of healthy wisdom teeth and premolars. RNA degradation was determined as RNA integrity number (RIN) with Agilent Bioanalyzer and subsequently by amplification of different length products by PCR after reverse transcription. The RNA integrity analysis allowed us to determine the time of post-mortem interval with high confidence level in the first 21 days. With the PCR-based method, we were able to perform a crude estimation of incubation time of teeth between 20 and 42 days post extraction. These results show that this method might be a promising new tool for PMI estimation despite the limitations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
09379827
Volume :
130
Issue :
3
Database :
Complementary Index
Journal :
International Journal of Legal Medicine
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
114514823
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-015-1295-y