[Immunohistochemical study of 5-HT on gunshot wound of human skin]

Fourty antemortem and 30 postmortem gunshot wound samples of human skin were studied by immunohistochemical method. The 5-HT was seen mainly in wound edge, papillary layer, hypodermis and surrounding tissue of all antemortem gunshot wounds. The 5-HT was also discovered on the postmortem gunshot wounds which occurred within 8 minutes after death. The result showed that immunohistochemical staining of 5-HT be useful for diagnosing the antemortem gunshot wound. It also demonstrated that the mast cells of human do not contain 5-HT. We also studied the rate of mast cell degranulation of gunshot wounds of human skin by toluidine blue staining. The rate of mast cell degranulation of antemortem gunshot wounds increased (50%), and it was higher than that of postmortem gunshot wounds, suggesting that the rising of degranulation rate is a sign of antemortem injury.