Immediate postmortem estimation of cerebrospinal fluid albumin as an indication of premortal suffering period [an experimental study]

ABSTRACT

Albumin cocentration of CSF was estimated in 24 dogs divided into 4 equal groups, three of them were divided according to the premortal suffering period while the fourth group used as control. Insignificant increase of albumiun concentration was found in the second group [duration of agony was 10-20 minutes], in the third group [duration of agony was 1-2 hours] it showed highly significant increase, while in the first group [duration of agony 1-2 minutes] insignificant change was found in comparison to the control group. The increase in albumin concentration of CSF may be related to the hypoxia and hypercapnia which characterise the premortal suffering period, increasing the permeability of the blood-brain brain and transfer of the albumin to CSF. Therefore, postmortem estimation of CSF albumin could be a reliable indication of the premortal suffering period