[Effect of ethanol on the results of determination of metabolic parameters, enzymatic activity, and certain hormones in the blood serum].

The authors report data demonstrating the in vitro influence of 0.3-6 per thousand ethyl alcohol on the results of determination of metabolic parameters, enzymatic activity, and certain hormones in the blood serum. It is shown that ethyl alcohol may change results of immunoenzyme assays used for kinetic determination of enzyme activities and metabolites.

[Langerhans cells of the interfollicular epidermis and external root sheath epithelium of the hair follicles of the normal human skin and in death caused by freezing].

The skin obtained from 50 cadavers of the individuals of both sexes who died as a result of general cooling was studied during a post-mortem examination in Vitebsk District Administration of The State Medical Forensic Expertise Service (Byelorussia). As the control, the skin of 10 people who died in car accidents and for other reasons, not associated with the effect of cold, as well as the skin samples taken from 10 healthy volunteers, were studied. Langerhans cells (LC) of the epidermis and hair follicle epithelium were studied using the ATPase reaction. LC structure under normal condition is described in detail. It was shown that these cells were localized in the suprabasal layer of the epidermis and of the epithelium of the external root sheath of the hair follicles. LC were forming contacts with one another by their long processes. In individuals who died as a result of general cooling, the number of LC was decreased both in the epidermis and in the epithelium of the external root sheath of the hair follicles and these cell underwent marked degenerative changes.

[Morphological characteristic of Langerhans cells from the human epidermis in case of general hypothermia].

The objective of this work was to study morphological changes in the Langerhans cells of epidermis and epithelium of hair follicles from subjects who died as a result of general hypothermia. A total of 105 cadaveric skin samples from subjects of either gender aged from 19 to 83 years were available for analysis. Postmortem examination 1-2 days after death was performed at the Department of Forensic Medical Examination for the Vitebsk region. Skin samples were frozen in liquid nitrogen and studied as cryostat sections. Langerhans cells were detected using the ATPase assay as described by Wachstein and Meisel and modified by Robins and Brendon. The Langerhans cells of subjects who died from general hypothermia were shown to undergo marked morphological changes. Moreover, their number significantly decreased as a result of disintegration and transformation into fine-grain material. Surviving cells lost many of their outgrowths and exhibited enhanced ATPase activity in pericarion. The Langerhans cells from dorsal and ventral skin as well as from interfollicular epidermis and the outer sheath of hair follicles underwent virtually identical changes. A unique morphological feature of the skin in those who died from general hypothermia was formation of intraepidermal, subepidermal, and dermal blisters.

[Morphologic characteristic of lipid-containing and lipid-producing structures of human integument under normal conditions and in death caused by freezing].

This investigation was aimed at the study of lipid-containing and lipid-producing structures of human integument under normal conditions and in death caused by freezing. The skin of interscapular and epigastral areas was studied in 105 cadavers of individuals of both sexes aged 19-83 years, who died as a result of freezing. In the control group, the skin of 10 cadavers of people killed in the car accidents and those who died by the reasons, not associated with the effect of cold, was studied. Paraffin sections were stained with hematoxylin and eosin. To demonstrate lipids, unfixed cryostat sections were stained with sudan III. The following structures are producing the skin lipids: fat cells of adipose tissue, which is localized not only in subcutaneous fat tissue (hypodermis), but forms the pads, that surround the vascular networks, secretory portions of the gland, hair follicles; keratinocytes, producing lipids as a result of terminal differentiation; a sebaceous glands containing cells (sebocytes) which transform into the sebum as a result of holocrine secretion. The lipids produced by this structures are localized either in situ or are transported to the epidermal surface. Lipid-containing structures of the skin are stratum corneum and a superficial lipid film, which is formed from the secretion of the sebaceous glands--sebum. In people who died as a result of general cooling, the content and distribution of lipids in the skin are significantly changed. In the adipose tissue, the adipocyte dimensions and number is decreased, cells without lipids are found. The thickness of the superficial lipid film was decreased as compared to that in the control group; in some areas it could be absent. In the orifices of hair follicles significant amounts of lipids are deposited.

[The dynamic postmortem changes of the nucleoproteins in the tissues of the liver and eye]. / Dinamika posmertnykh izmenenii nukleoproteidov v tkaniakh pecheni i glaza.

Postmortal changes in nucleoproteins were examined in the hepatocytes and anterior corneal and crystalline lenticular epithelial cells from 106 cadavers within 48 h after death by microfluorometry. Cryostat tissue sections were stained by acridine yellow by the method of R. Rigler (1966). The author found a natural decrease in fluorescence intensity of the examined tissue cellular nuclei at 530 nm within 4-24 h. and an increase in their fluorescence intensity at 640 nm within 4-48 h. after death. Data obtained may be used to establish the time of death.