Background: It is crucial to conduct a wound examination during the evaluation of a burned
body. This is more pronounced when distinguishing between burns inflicted shortly before and
after death. Nevertheless, the conventional findings of antemortem burns are usually
nonspecific. Objectives: Verifying the ability of Mir-21 and Mir-711 expressions in skin and
histopathological changes in skin and brain to determine vitality and estimate the postmortem
interval (PMI) of cutaneous thermal burns. Methodology: Adult albino rats were used. Rats
were randomly assigned to one of three groups: Group I: Samples were collected before and
at the 0 time point after the rats’ sacrifice. Group II: Burns were inflicted on the rats’ skin, and
then all rats were sacrificed after 30 minutes; samples were collected at 0, 12, 24, and 48 hours.
Group III: Burns were inflicted on the rats’ skin 30 minutes after sacrifice. Results: The
antemortem burned regions exhibited elevated expressions of both Mirs compared to those of
postmortem unburnt controls and postmortem burn samples. Mir-21 expression at 12 hours
after death and Mir-711 at 24 hours after death were significantly higher than at other time
intervals in Group II. Mir-21 expression in skin can be used to determine the vitality of
cutaneous thermal burns up to 2 days after death, but Mir-711 can be used for only 1 day.
Inflammatory cell infiltration in the skin and brain can be used as histopathological indicators
of cutaneous thermal burns. Conclusion: The determination of the vitality of burned skin may
be facilitated by the detection of Mir-21 and Mir-711 expressions. Histopathological signs of
acute inflammation were detected in the brain and skin up to two days after the rats’ death.
The combination of multiple markers can be used to confirm PMI estimation in cutaneous
thermal burns |
