| Background: Electrical injury is often met in forensic practice. Generally, electrical injury is identified by current mark. However, current mark can be engendered when electrified after postmortem, thus, it is difficult to identify when the current mark formed, postmortem or antemortem? Furthermore, in forensic practice, there are some cases, in which the victim died of electrical injury without current mark. Therefore, there are two difficult problems in the forensic medicine on electrical injury, that is, how to identify when the current mark engendered and how to investigate the electrical injury without current mark. As we know that a closed circuit is absolutely necessary when the current is formed, then the current stimulate the flesh and damnify him.c-fos is one of the immediately early genes that express when stimulated. This study is to investigate the changes of the expression of c-fos in many organs of rats when they suffered from the electrical injury.Purpose: To find the difference of the expression of c-fos in rats organs when electrified between postmortem and antemortem and whether there is the expression of c-fos when victim was electrified in water without electrical mark left, and to evaluate the potential their value in forensic practice.Methods: The experiment was divided into three parts. In the first part, thirty-five healthy male Sprague—Dawely rats were stochasticly divided into seven groups, five per group, ie, electrical death group, 1hr, 2hr, 4hr, 8hr groups after electrified, shamly electrified group and control group. All experimental rats were respectively electrified with two metal clamps that connected with two poles of 220V alternating current by clamping their left hind limbs and right forelimbs. The rats of electrical death group were electrified to death, and the rats of other experimental groups were electrified only one minute, then taken away and killed respectively at lhr, 2hr, 4hr,and 8hr after electrified by cervix dislocation. The rats of the shamly electrified group were clamped one minutebut not electrified, then killed by cervix dislocation also. The rats of normal control group were directly killed by cervix dislocation. In the second part, ten healthy male Sprague Dawely rats were stochasticly divided into two groups, five per group, ie, electrified group in water, shamly electrified group in water. The experimental rats were placed in a container, which contained only little water whose depth is three millimeter, where two poles of 220V alternating current were placed inside laterally, and then electrified to death. The experimental control rats were placed in the container, but not electrified, then taken out and killed by cervix dislocation. In the third part, twenty-five healthy male Sprague Dawely rats were stochasticly divided into five groups, five per group, ie, electrified at the immediate, 15minute, 30minute, and lhr groups after death and shamly electrified group after death. These rats were electrified respectively at the immediate, 15min, 30min, and lhr after death caused by cervix dislocation by clamping respectively their left hind limbs and right forelimbs with metal clamps which connected 220V alternating current. The rats of shamly electrified group after death were clamped but not electrified. The brain, lung, heart, liver, spleen, kidney, muscle of electrified limb, and cutis of electrified limb of all experimental rats and those organs of control groups were dissected to detect the expression of c-fos by immunohistochemistry staining, whose intensity were assessed by image analysis system.Results: The expression of c-fos was positive in brain, heart, liver, lung, kidney and muscle of electrified directly group and electrified group in water, with staining intensity being strongest at 2h after electrified and decreasing at 8h after electrified. The expression of c-fos in spleen is negative in all groups. As regards the expression of c-fos in cutis, it is positive in electrical group in water, but negative in the othe groups. The expression of c-fos in all detected organs was negative in those rats that were electrified after death.Conclusion: c-fos can be regard as a target in identifying electrical injury, whether it formed at antemortem or postmortem. It seems that c-fos can be valuable on diagnosis of electrical injury without a current mark.
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