Nuclear Organizer Region in Establishing Postmortem Interval

A recurring problem in forensic medicine is the need to fix the time of death within the limits of probability. It is known fact that the longer the interval of time between death and the examination of the body wider will be the limits of probability. Establishing the time of death or postmortem interval (PMI) of a deceased individual is one of the extensively investigated problems in the field of forensics. AgNOR-(Argyrophilic Nucleolar Organizing Region) Nucleolar Organizer Regions are focal aggregates of intranuclear non-histone proteins that are associated with potential sites of ribosomal DNA transcription. There is a close relationship between NORs and cellular activity, NOR size and number can reflect or predict cell proliferation & transformation.

Postmortem changes of nuclear organizer region will be qualitatively analysed in the oral mucosa to see for the relationship between postmortem interval and agnors.

Variation of shape and color of agnors at different time interval will be examined.

Twenty tissue samples were obtained from oral mucosa (Labial Mucosa) of dead persons during autopsy procedure performed at Dept of Forensic Medicine, District Hospital, Tumkur District, Karnataka.

Tissue was processed and stained with AgNOR stain. The stained sections were observed microscopically and examined for Nuleolar Organiser Region changes in the oral mucosal tissue at Dental Care and Research Center, Bengaluru.

there was a clear variation of morphology within the AgNOR Region.

Approximate postmortem interval can be established using AgNOR method. Study on large scale is necessary to reinforce our findings.