Wound age determination in mice with immunohistochemical methods

Introduction: Wound vitality and wound age determination in autopsy cases has brought serious problems. Although several studies have recently made about this subject, clear informations couldn?t be obtained. We aimed to work about this subject which has a great importance In forensic practice, by using ubiquitin and Ki-67 antibodies with immunohistochemical methods to shed light on wound viability and / or wound age determinationMaterials and methods: A total of 50 (balb/c) male 6-8 week old mice, weighing 25-30 gr. were divided into 10 group including 5 mice in every group. After general anesthesia, a 1.5 cm full-thickness incision was made on the dorsal skin using a scalpel. After 1, 3, 6, 12, 24 hours and 3, 5, 7, 14 days following the incision, a total of 42 mice were sacrified by cervical dislocation. A 1 cm area surrounding the wound was excised. Group 6 excluded from the study due to lack of mice. One mice died in per group 7, 8, 9 for that reason study complated with 42 mice.Findings: The ratio of Ki-67 positive staining fibroblasts began to increase at Group 4 and also Group 5 and 7 were statistically significant. Similarly Ki-67 positively staining basal cell ratio in Group 5 and 7 was found statistically significant, Group 8 and Group 9 showed similar features with control group.Ubiquitin positive staining fibroblast cells showed smiliar fetaures with control group from Group 1 to Group 4 and in Group 5, 7 and Group 8 the ratio of ubiquitin pozitive fibroblast cells were statistically significant.Conclusion: We are considering that use of ubiquitin maybe useful in determining the wound age between 1-7 days and it may also be useful to find the wound age older than 1 day or not.Ki-67 marker will contribute to identify the wound age which is between 1-5 days by using immunohistochemical methods.Keywords: Forensic Pathology, Immunohistochemistry, Wound Age Determination, Ubiquitin, Ki-67