Abstract
Postmortem diagnosis of fatal hypothermia is a major challenge encountered by the forensic expert because of its complex pathophysiology mechanism. This study aims to establish more specific criteria for the postmortem diagnosis of induced fatal hypothermia in rats by the assessment of serum level of cortisol, adrenocorticotropic hormone, adrenaline, troponin1, calcium, magnesium, some free fatty acids and histopathological changes of heart, brain, anterior pituitary and adrenal gland. Sixty adult albino rats were divided into three groups; each group consists of twenty rats. The control group was kept at a normothermic condition (23 +/- 2 degrees C), the second group was introduced into a refrigerator at hypothermic condition (2-8 degrees C) till the death while the third group was introduced into a deep freezer at hypothermic condition (0 to -2 degrees C) till death. The control rats were sacrificed when the rats of hypothermic groups died. Hypothermia led to significant abnormalities in the serum level of cortisol, ACTH, adrenaline, troponin 1, calcium, magnesium, palmitic and stearic acids associated with histopathological changes in brain, heart, anterior pituitary and adrenal gland according to the severity of hypothermia. Postmortem diagnosis of fatal hypothermia depends on multi-factorial criteria that include biochemical and histological abnormalities.