The Rate of RNA Degradation in Human Dental Pulp Reveals Post-mortem Interval

Overview

Journal Int J Legal Med

Specialty Forensic Sciences

Date 2015 Nov 27

PMID 26608472

Citations 15

Authors

Viktor S Poor

Denes Lukacs

Tamas Nagy

Evelin Racz

Katalin Sipos

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Post-mortem interval (PMI) is the amount of time elapsed since the time of death. Over the years, many methods were developed to assess PMI, but their precision and time frame of applicability are often limited. Our present pilot study aimed to prove if RNA degradation of human dental pulp can be used for PMI estimation. RNA was isolated from the pulps of healthy wisdom teeth and premolars. RNA degradation was determined as RNA integrity number (RIN) with Agilent Bioanalyzer and subsequently by amplification of different length products by PCR after reverse transcription. The RNA integrity analysis allowed us to determine the time of post-mortem interval with high confidence level in the first 21 days. With the PCR-based method, we were able to perform a crude estimation of incubation time of teeth between 20 and 42 days post extraction. These results show that this method might be a promising new tool for PMI estimation despite the limitations.

Citing Articles

A novel approach for estimating postmortem intervals under varying temperature conditions using pathology images and artificial intelligence models.

Liang X, Deng M, Zhu Z, Zhang W, Li Y, Luo J Int J Legal Med. 2025; .

PMID: 40019556 DOI: 10.1007/s00414-025-03447-9.

Potential Role of mRNA in Estimating Postmortem Interval: A Systematic Review.

Cianci V, Mondello C, Sapienza D, Guerrera M, Cianci A, Craco A Int J Mol Sci. 2024; 25(15).

PMID: 39125753 PMC: 11311348. DOI: 10.3390/ijms25158185.

Complexity of human death: its physiological, transcriptomic, and microbiological implications.

Javan G, Singh K, Finley S, Green R, Sen C Front Microbiol. 2024; 14:1345633.

PMID: 38282739 PMC: 10822681. DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1345633.

Review of the current and potential use of biological and molecular methods for the estimation of the postmortem interval in animals and humans.

Wenzlow N, Mills D, Byrd J, Warren M, Long M J Vet Diagn Invest. 2023; 35(2):97-108.

PMID: 36744749 PMC: 9999395. DOI: 10.1177/10406387231153930.

The Potential of Light Microscopic Features of the Oral Mucosa in Predicting Post-mortem Interval.

Patro J, Panda S, Mohanty N, Mishra U Sultan Qaboos Univ Med J. 2021; 21(1):e34-e41.

PMID: 33777421 PMC: 7968895. DOI: 10.18295/squmj.2021.21.01.005.

References

Bauer M, Patzelt D . Identification of menstrual blood by real time RT-PCR: technical improvements and the practical value of negative test results. Forensic Sci Int. 2007; 174(1):55-9. DOI: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2007.03.016. View

Johnson L, Abelson H, Penman S, Green H . The relative amounts of the cytoplasmic RNA species in normal, transformed and senescent cultured cell lines. J Cell Physiol. 1977; 90(3):465-70. DOI: 10.1002/jcp.1040900310. View

Conde M, Nedel F, Campos V, Smith A, Nor J, Demarco F . Odontoblast RNA stability in different temperature-based protocols for tooth storage. Int Endod J. 2011; 45(3):266-72. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2591.2011.01971.x. View

Gonzalez-Herrera L, Valenzuela A, Marchal J, Lorente J, Villanueva E . Studies on RNA integrity and gene expression in human myocardial tissue, pericardial fluid and blood, and its postmortem stability. Forensic Sci Int. 2013; 232(1-3):218-28. DOI: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2013.08.001. View

Hinchliffe J . Forensic odontology, Part 1. Dental identification. Br Dent J. 2011; 210(5):219-24. DOI: 10.1038/sj.bdj.2011.146. View

Fordyce S, Kampmann M, van Doorn N, Gilbert M . Long-term RNA persistence in postmortem contexts. Investig Genet. 2013; 4(1):7. PMC: 3662605. DOI: 10.1186/2041-2223-4-7. View

Bauer M, Polzin S, Patzelt D . Quantification of RNA degradation by semi-quantitative duplex and competitive RT-PCR: a possible indicator of the age of bloodstains?. Forensic Sci Int. 2003; 138(1-3):94-103. DOI: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2003.09.008. View

Schroeder A, Mueller O, Stocker S, Salowsky R, Leiber M, Gassmann M . The RIN: an RNA integrity number for assigning integrity values to RNA measurements. BMC Mol Biol. 2006; 7:3. PMC: 1413964. DOI: 10.1186/1471-2199-7-3. View

Haas C, Klesser B, Maake C, Bar W, Kratzer A . mRNA profiling for body fluid identification by reverse transcription endpoint PCR and realtime PCR. Forensic Sci Int Genet. 2009; 3(2):80-8. DOI: 10.1016/j.fsigen.2008.11.003. View

10.

Manjunath B, Chandrashekar B, Mahesh M, Vatchala Rani R . DNA profiling and forensic dentistry--a review of the recent concepts and trends. J Forensic Leg Med. 2011; 18(5):191-7. DOI: 10.1016/j.jflm.2011.02.005. View

11.

Kaur S, Krishan K, Chatterjee P, Kanchan T . Analysis and identification of bite marks in forensic casework. Oral Health Dent Manag. 2013; 12(3):127-31. View

12.

Young S, Wells J, Hobbs G, Bishop C . Estimating postmortem interval using RNA degradation and morphological changes in tooth pulp. Forensic Sci Int. 2013; 229(1-3):163.e1-6. DOI: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2013.03.035. View

13.

Madlena M, Hermann P, Jahn M, Fejerdy P . Caries prevalence and tooth loss in Hungarian adult population: results of a national survey. BMC Public Health. 2008; 8:364. PMC: 2596128. DOI: 10.1186/1471-2458-8-364. View

14.

Sampaio-Silva F, Magalhaes T, Carvalho F, Dinis-Oliveira R, Silvestre R . Profiling of RNA degradation for estimation of post mortem [corrected] interval. PLoS One. 2013; 8(2):e56507. PMC: 3577908. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0056507. View