Methodical approach to brain hypoxia/ischemia as a fundamental problem in forensic neuropathology

A review is given summarizing different methods that have been applied to the specific forensic neuropathological question of brain hypoxia/ischemia. On the microscopic level the authors applied routine stains and immunohistochemistry (MAP2, ALZ 50, GFAP, CD68, beta-APP) for characterization of the functional activity of neurons as well as of different cell types in various brain areas. Moreover, using molecular techniques for evaluation of the mitochondrial 4977-bp deletion in correlation to hypoxia and to age brain tissue and single cell analyses are described. The demonstrated scope of methods and results give evidence of the wide spectrum of possibilities to visualize hypoxic brain injuries for determining the cause (and matter) of death and for reconstructing the time-dependent process.