Anaphylactic shock is a sudden and serious
life-threatening systemic
hypersensitivity leading to a rapid, irreversible fatal
circulatory collapse.
Postmortem diagnosis of fatal
anaphylaxis is a very sophisticated task in
forensic medicine; it is usually excluded as the
cause of death due to lack of
autopsy findings. This study aims to find more specific criteria for the
postmortem diagnosis of induced fatal
anaphylaxis in
rats by assessing the levels of total
tryptase,
histamine,
immunoglobulin E (
IgE) and histological changes in the
larynx,
trachea,
lung,
heart, and
spleen using
light and
electron microscopes. Sixty
adult albino
rats were divided into three groups; each group consisted of twenty
rats. The first (control) group received
distilled water while the second and third groups received a single intravenous
dose of
ovalbumin and
penicillin G, respectively, two weeks after active subcutaneous sensitization. The fatal
anaphylactic shock led to a significant increase in the levels of total
tryptase,
histamine and
immunoglobulin E (
IgE) along with histological changes in the
larynx,
trachea,
lung,
heart, and
spleen that vary its severity according to the
anaphylaxis cause.
Postmortem diagnosis of fatal
anaphylaxis depends on multi- factorial criteria that include biochemical, immunological and histological findings.