Age estimation using cytochrome c oxidase activity analysis

Recently, in the field of forensic medicine the number of unidentified cadavers has increased due to mass disasters and international terrorism. In addition to the conventional anthropological methods, a simple and precise method to estimate the age of these unidentified cadavers to assist in the personal identification is necessary. On the other hand, many researchers have reported that mitochondrial respiratory activity decreases with aging because of the production of reactive oxidative species in the process of ATP generation. Therefore, it may be possible for us to estimate human age by analyzing mitochondrial activity. In this report we attempted to analyze cytochrome c oxidase (CCO) activity, and the amount of protein and mRNA expression in various aged rats. The age of human subjects was estimated through the analysis of human CCO activity from 28 actual forensic cases. The CCO activity, the amount of protein and the mRNA expression increased in the 3rd week and decreased afterwards in rats. Furthermore, human CCO activity was decreased gradually with aging. Therefore, CCO activity analysis may be useful for age estimation in forensic cases.