Morphological and Immunohistochemical Changes in Progressive Postmortem Autolysis of the Murine Brain

In this time series study, the temporal sequences of postmortem changes in brains kept at different temperatures were investigated in different areas of mouse brains. Fixation of tissues kept at different storage temperatures (4 °C, 22 °C, 37 °C) was delayed for four time points (24, 120, 168, 336 h...

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Main Authors: Francesca Parisi, Sara Degl’Innocenti, Çağla Aytaş, Andrea Pirone, Carlo Cantile
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2024-12-01
Series:Animals
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Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/14/24/3676
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author Francesca Parisi
Sara Degl’Innocenti
Çağla Aytaş
Andrea Pirone
Carlo Cantile
author_facet Francesca Parisi
Sara Degl’Innocenti
Çağla Aytaş
Andrea Pirone
Carlo Cantile
author_sort Francesca Parisi
collection DOAJ
description In this time series study, the temporal sequences of postmortem changes in brains kept at different temperatures were investigated in different areas of mouse brains. Fixation of tissues kept at different storage temperatures (4 °C, 22 °C, 37 °C) was delayed for four time points (24, 120, 168, 336 h). Histological and immunohistochemical investigations were carried out to determine how postmortem autolysis may affect the cellular morphology and the expression of neural cell epitopes. Results showed that the autolytic changes started earlier in brains at 22 °C and 37 °C and in the grey matter compared to the white matter, with the cerebellum and hippocampus showing the earliest postmortem changes. The cellular antigens were differently affected by the autolytic process overtime: NeuN and Olig2 immunoreactivity was gradually lost at the nuclear site and diffused into the cytoplasm; increased background staining was observed with SMI-32; GFAP showed an increase in immunolabeling, whereas 2F11 immunoreactivity decreased. This study suggests that the morphological analysis and immunohistochemical investigation of the brain tissue could be satisfactorily applied to forensic cases, providing useful data for the estimation of the postmortem interval.
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spelling doaj-art-3bebfa91ac054a24a7535e99dd7d954e2025-08-20T02:01:01ZengMDPI AGAnimals2076-26152024-12-011424367610.3390/ani14243676Morphological and Immunohistochemical Changes in Progressive Postmortem Autolysis of the Murine BrainFrancesca Parisi0Sara Degl’Innocenti1Çağla Aytaş2Andrea Pirone3Carlo Cantile4Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Pisa, Viale delle Piagge 2, 56124 Pisa, ItalyGLP Test Facility, San Raffaele Telethon Institute for Gene Therapy (SR-Tiget), IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Via Olgettina 60, 20132 Milan, ItalyDepartment of Veterinary Sciences, University of Pisa, Viale delle Piagge 2, 56124 Pisa, ItalyDepartment of Veterinary Sciences, University of Pisa, Viale delle Piagge 2, 56124 Pisa, ItalyDepartment of Veterinary Sciences, University of Pisa, Viale delle Piagge 2, 56124 Pisa, ItalyIn this time series study, the temporal sequences of postmortem changes in brains kept at different temperatures were investigated in different areas of mouse brains. Fixation of tissues kept at different storage temperatures (4 °C, 22 °C, 37 °C) was delayed for four time points (24, 120, 168, 336 h). Histological and immunohistochemical investigations were carried out to determine how postmortem autolysis may affect the cellular morphology and the expression of neural cell epitopes. Results showed that the autolytic changes started earlier in brains at 22 °C and 37 °C and in the grey matter compared to the white matter, with the cerebellum and hippocampus showing the earliest postmortem changes. The cellular antigens were differently affected by the autolytic process overtime: NeuN and Olig2 immunoreactivity was gradually lost at the nuclear site and diffused into the cytoplasm; increased background staining was observed with SMI-32; GFAP showed an increase in immunolabeling, whereas 2F11 immunoreactivity decreased. This study suggests that the morphological analysis and immunohistochemical investigation of the brain tissue could be satisfactorily applied to forensic cases, providing useful data for the estimation of the postmortem interval.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/14/24/3676brainC57BL/6J mouseautolysispostmortem intervalforensic veterinary pathologyimmunohistochemistry
spellingShingle Francesca Parisi
Sara Degl’Innocenti
Çağla Aytaş
Andrea Pirone
Carlo Cantile
Morphological and Immunohistochemical Changes in Progressive Postmortem Autolysis of the Murine Brain
Animals
brain
C57BL/6J mouse
autolysis
postmortem interval
forensic veterinary pathology
immunohistochemistry
title Morphological and Immunohistochemical Changes in Progressive Postmortem Autolysis of the Murine Brain
title_full Morphological and Immunohistochemical Changes in Progressive Postmortem Autolysis of the Murine Brain
title_fullStr Morphological and Immunohistochemical Changes in Progressive Postmortem Autolysis of the Murine Brain
title_full_unstemmed Morphological and Immunohistochemical Changes in Progressive Postmortem Autolysis of the Murine Brain
title_short Morphological and Immunohistochemical Changes in Progressive Postmortem Autolysis of the Murine Brain
title_sort morphological and immunohistochemical changes in progressive postmortem autolysis of the murine brain
topic brain
C57BL/6J mouse
autolysis
postmortem interval
forensic veterinary pathology
immunohistochemistry
url https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/14/24/3676
work_keys_str_mv AT francescaparisi morphologicalandimmunohistochemicalchangesinprogressivepostmortemautolysisofthemurinebrain
AT saradeglinnocenti morphologicalandimmunohistochemicalchangesinprogressivepostmortemautolysisofthemurinebrain
AT caglaaytas morphologicalandimmunohistochemicalchangesinprogressivepostmortemautolysisofthemurinebrain
AT andreapirone morphologicalandimmunohistochemicalchangesinprogressivepostmortemautolysisofthemurinebrain
AT carlocantile morphologicalandimmunohistochemicalchangesinprogressivepostmortemautolysisofthemurinebrain