Estimation of postmortem metabolic changes in porcine brain tissue using 1H-MR spectroscopy--preliminary results

To investigate the potential for estimating the time since death by monitoring the evolution of different metabolites in brain tissue by (1)H-MRS, an animal model using pig heads was established. The maximum examination interval was 3 weeks. Within this time interval spectra revealed different compositions of metabolites, including metabolites observed in the normal brain and as products of bacterial decomposition processes (N-acetyl-aspartate 0-130 h, creatine 0-170 h, bound trimethylammonium, e. g. choline compounds, during the whole time course with fluctuating intensities, lactate 0-200 h, alanine and acetate during the whole time course, succinate and free trimethylammonium after approx. 100 h postmortem). The proposed approach may offer a new method to estimate later postmortem intervals although these observations have to be confirmed by further studies.