Fibronectin EIIIA splicing variant: a useful contribution to forensic wounding interval estimation

A fibronectin splicing variant, Fn containing an extra type III domain (EIIIA in rat, ED1 or EDA in human) has recently attracted more attention because of its sensitive response in injury of adult tissue. The characteristic that this form is absent in adult tissue while it is commonly expressed in fetal tissues and injured adult tissue is useful in estimation of injury interval in forensic science. The regulation of fibronectin splicing was studied by immunohistochemistry by using monoclonal antibody to EIIIA on sections from paraffin embedded rat skin sample after contusion. The results indicated that epidermic cells and hair follicle epithelium of rat skin were found positive staining at 6h after injury, and the color became darker with prolonged wounding time. Based on the above result, we invented a type of test paper assayed for EIIIA-Fn splicing variant by using immune colloidal gold technique. After dipping one end of test paper in the supernatant fluid of tissue homogenates of injury skin for few minutes, detecting line could be found. It showed that all experimental injured samples revealed positive staining; the darkness of positive staining was dependent on the injury time, while control normal skin cannot found positive staining. It is concluded that there is a close relationship between the expression of EIIIA-Fn splicing variant and wounding interval, and that the gold-labeled test paper can be useful in distinguishing ante- and post-mortem injury, and in estimation of wounding interval in forensic science.