IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL STUDY ON THE DEPLETION OF DESMIN, ACTIN AND MYOGLOBIN IN AUTOLYZED AND PUTREFIED NORMAL HUMAN MYOCARDIA

B. J. Hu, Y. C. Chen, J. Z. Zhu

Abstract: Background. The depletion of several cardiac cellular proteins have been studied for postmortem diagnosis of early myocardial ischemia in the field of forensic medicine. The diagnostic value would be markedly limited if its immunohistochemical demonstration were affected by autolysis and putrefaction. Objectives. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of autolysis and putrefaction on the immunohistochemical demonstration of desmin, actin and myoglobin for the postmortem diagnosis of early myocardial ischemia. Methods. The tissue blocks taken from the left ventricles of normal autopsy hearts without coronary artery diseases were stored at 4 ̄C in the refrigerator for different periods. The depletion areas of desmin, actin and myoglobin were studied with immunohistochemistry, image analysis technique and statistics system. Results. The normal myocardia kept at 4 ̄C for 1 to 2 days showed homogenous brown reactions for desmin, actin and myoglobin. Depletion of desmin, actin and myoglobin became evident when normal myocardia were kept at 4 ̄C over 3 days postmortem, and the average depletion areas increased with the lapse of postmortem interval. Conclusion. The results of the present study indicate that depletion of desmin, actin and myoglobin could be caused not only by myocardial ischemia, but also by the postmortem changes related to autolysis and putrefaction, so these three cardiac celluar proteins are only suitable for fresh corpses(1 to 2 days postmortem) to detect early myocardial ischemia in forensic practice.
Keywords: Early myocardial ischemia, desmin, actin, myoglobin, immunohistochemistry, postmortem change.