Estimation of Postmortem Interval using microRNA in the liver in aluminum phosphide deaths in rat model

Hussein, Dina A.; Hassan, Dalia Abd ELwahab; Abdelhady, Ebthal Gamal; Hablas, Mohamed Ghazy  Attia; Ali, Motee R.

doi:10.21608/ejmr.2025.386764.1835

Estimation of Postmortem Interval using microRNA in the liver in aluminum phosphide deaths in rat model

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Forensic medicine and clinical toxicology department, Faculty of medicine, Beni-Suef University, Beni-Suef, Egypt

² Medical Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Faculty of medicine, Beni-Suef University, Beni-Suef, Egypt

³ Histology and Cell Biology, Faculty of Medicine, Suez University P.O. Box: 43221, Suez, Egypt

10.21608/ejmr.2025.386764.1835

Abstract

Background: One of the main challenges in forensic pathology is determining the postmortem interval (PMI). The autolysis mechanism is exploited in recent PMI enhancements. Objective: To determine if the assessment of PMI can be achieved by utilizing the expression of the liver's microtubule-associated protein light chain3 (LC3) and Serine/threonine-protein kinase (mTOR) levels in liver specimens from aluminum phosphide toxicity. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study that included 70 rats, which were divided equally into 7 toxicity groups. The toxicity groups were administered aluminum phosphide suspension via oral lavage, after which the rats died within six hours. Immediately after death, liver tissues were collected from the groups at (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 days postmortem). MDA (Malondialdehyde), CAT (catalase), and mTOR levels were measured in liver tissues using ELISA. The LC3 level was monitored using the GoTaq® 1-Step RT-qPCR. Organ samples were used for histopathological examination. Results: MDA and mTOR were upregulated with a statistically significant difference between the groups, while CAT and LC3 showed a statistically significant decrease between groups (P value <0.05). There was positive correlation between PMI and MDA and mTOR (P-value <0.001), while there was a negative correlation between PMI with CAT and LC3 (P-value <0.001). The linear regression analysis revealed that LC3, MDA, CAT and mTOR were strong predictors of PMI. Conclusion: According to the study's findings, the levels of LC3 and mTOR expression in liver tissue can be utilized to calculate the PMI. LC3 was a strong independent indicator for PMI estimation.

Keywords

Main Subjects

Academic medicine

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