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Hong, Lim, and Kim: Comparison of Pathologic Findings by Seawater or Fresh Water Drowning on the Experimental Animals
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Korean J Leg Med 2013;37(3):119-128.

Published online: 17 January 2013

DOI: https://doi.org/10.7580/kjlm.2013.37.3.119

Comparison of Pathologic Findings by Seawater or Fresh Water Drowning on the Experimental Animals

Jeong-Won Hong1, Sung Chul Lim2, Youn Shin Kim1

1Department of Forensic Medicine, Chosun University School of Medicine, Gwangju, Korea

2Department of Pathology, Chosun University School of Medicine, Gwangju, Korea

책임저자 : 김윤신 (501-759) 광주광역시 동구 필문대로 309, 조선대학교 의학전문대학원 법의학 교실 전화 : +82-62-230-6998 FAX : +82-62-234-4584 E-mail : ysk007@hotmail.com

Received 23 July 2013       Revised 6 August 2013       Accepted 23 August 2013

Copyright © 2013 The Korean Society for Legal Medicine

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Death by drowning is a major cause of unnatural death worldwide. It is therefore important to conduct forensic examination of immersed bodies following drowning, in order to determine the diagnosis of drowning, because no specific methods have been established thus far. Therefore, we performed a series of rat experiments to compare autopsy findings between seawater and fresh water drowning cases, which included the presence of pleural effusion and histologic findings of the lung. The results showed that the volume of pleural effusion increased in the seawater drowning group compared to the fresh water drowning group, and the total weight of lung was affected by the type of drowning medium and postmortem interval. However, histologic findings of the lung showed no significant difference between the 2 types of drowning mediums.

Keywords: Key Words, Drowning, Seawater, Fresh water, Pleural effusion, Lung weight

REFERENCES

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Fig. 1.
Thoracic cage was opened to examine the volume of pleural effusion (a: seawater, 2 hr; b: seawater, 20 hr; c: postmortem, seawater, 20 hr; d: freshwater, 2 hr; e: freshwater, 20 hr; f: postmortem, freshwater, 20 hr).
kjlm-37-119f1.tif
Fig. 2.
Histogram shows rat’ s lung weight depending on the experimental condition.
kjlm-37-119f2.tif
Fig. 3.
Photograph shows ventral surface of the lung (a: seawater, 2 hr; b: seawater, 20 hr; c: postmortem, seawater, 20 hr; d: freshwater, 2 hr; e: freshwater, 20 hr; f: postmortem, freshwater, 20 hr).
kjlm-37-119f3.tif
Fig. 4.
Histologic section of rat’ s lung tissues shows alveolar edema, perivascular edema, alveolar hemorrhage and bronchiolar hemorrhage (a: 3+ of alveolar edema in #18, H&E, × 200; b: 3+ of perivascular edema in #4, H & E, × 200; c: 3+of alveolar hemorrhage in #20, H & E, × 200; d: 3+ of bronchiolar hemorrhage in #14, H & E, × 200).
kjlm-37-119f4.tif
Table 1.
Summary of Experimental Condition and the Results Including Correlation with Pleural Effusion and Lung Weight
No. Condition Weight (g) Total pleural effusion (㎖) (A) Total lung weight (g) (B) Total lung weight / NC∗ lung weight (C) A+B A+C
1 seawater 2 ㎖/2 hr 279 0.10 5.65 2.93 5.75 3.03
2 seawater 2 ㎖/2 hr 270 trace 6.13 3.18 6.13 3.18
3 seawater 2 ㎖/2 hr 275 trace 5.00 2.59 5.00 2.59
4 seawater 2 ㎖/2 hr 270 0.10 5.66 2.93 5.76 3.03
5
 seawater 2 ㎖/2 hr
 272
 trace
 6.32
 3.27
 6.32
 3.27
Average 273 UC† 5.75 2.98 5.79 3.02
6 seawater 2 ㎖/20 hr 290 1.40 3.60 1.87 5.00 3.27
7 seawater 2 ㎖/20 hr 272 2.00 3.19 1.65 5.19 3.65
8 seawater 2 ㎖/20 hr 270 1.97 3.21 1.66 5.18 3.63
9 seawater 2 ㎖/20 hr 280 1.80 3.40 1.76 5.20 3.56
10
 seawater 2 ㎖/20 hr
 283
 1.50
 3.23
 1.67
 4.73
 3.17
Average 279 1.73 3.33 1.72 5.06 3.46
11 freshwater 2 ㎖/2 hr 290 0.01 2.27 1.18 2.28 1.19
12 freshwater 2 ㎖/2 hr 290 trace 1.84 0.95 1.84 0.95
13 freshwater 2 ㎖/2 hr 292 trace 2.05 1.06 2.05 1.06
14 freshwater 2 ㎖/2 hr 285 trace 2.33 1.21 2.33 1.21
15
 freshwater 2 ㎖/2 hr
 279
 0.02
 2.04
 1.06
 2.06
 1.08
Average 287 UC 2.11 1.09 2.11 1.10
16 freshwater 2 ㎖/20 hr 281 trace 1.82 0.94 1.82 0.94
17 freshwater 2 ㎖/20 hr 270 trace 1.71 0.89 1.71 0.89
18 freshwater 2 ㎖/20 hr 297 trace 1.96 1.02 1.96 1.02
19 freshwater 2 ㎖/20 hr 274 0.03 1.73 0.90 1.76 0.93
20
 freshwater 2 ㎖/20 hr
 278
 trace
 1.90
 0.98
 1.90
 0.98
Average 280 UC 1.82 0.95 1.83 0.95
21 PM† seawater 2 ㎖/2 hr 273 trace 5.86 3.04 5.86 3.04
22 PM seawater 2 ㎖/20 hr 270 0.86 2.46 1.27 3.32 2.13
23 PM freshwater 2 ㎖/2 hr 287 trace 2.00 1.04 2.00 1.04
24 PM freshwater 2 ㎖/20 hr 287 trace 1.96 1.02 1.96 1.02
25
 Negative control
 282
 trace
 1.93
 1.00
 1.93
 1.00

∗ NC: Negative control;

† UC: Uncalculated;

† PM: Postmortem

Table 2.
Summary of Histologic Changes of Lung according to Experimental Condition
No. Condition Histologic findings
Alveolar edema Perivascular edema Alveolar hemorrhage Bronchiolar hemorrhage Subpleural congestion or hemorrhage Atelectasis Emphysema
1 seawater 2 ㎖/2 hr 0 2+ 1+ 0 0 0 1+
2 seawater 2 ㎖/2 hr 0 2+ 1+ 1+ 0 0 2+
3 seawater 2 ㎖/2 hr 1+ 2+ 2+ 1+ 0 0 2+
4 seawater 2 ㎖/2 hr 1+ 3+ 3+ 1+ 0 0 2+
5 seawater 2 ㎖/2 hr 1+ 3+ 3+ 1+ 0 0 2+
6 seawater 2 ㎖/20 hr 0 3+ 0 2+ 0 1+ 1+
7 seawater 2 ㎖/20 hr 2+ 2+ 2+ 1+ 0 0 1+
8 seawater 2 ㎖/20 hr 2+ 1+ 2+ 1+ 0 0 1+
9 seawater 2 ㎖/20 hr 1+ 1+ 1+ 0 0 0 1+
10 seawater 2 ㎖/20 hr 1+ 1+ 1+ 0 0 0 1+
11 freshwater 2 ㎖/2 hr 2+ 1+ 2+ 1+ 0 0 1+
12 freshwater 2 ㎖/2 hr 1+ 1+ 3+ 2+ 0 0 1+
13 freshwater 2 ㎖/2 hr 1+ 1+ 1+ 1+ 0 0 1+
14 freshwater 2 ㎖/2 hr 3+ 3+ 3+ 3+ 0 1+ 2+
15 freshwater 2 ㎖/2 hr 2+ 1+ 2+ 1+ 0 1+ 2+
16 freshwater 2 ㎖/20 hr 2+ 1+ 2+ 2+ 0 0 1+
17 freshwater 2 ㎖/20 hr 1+ 1+ 1+ 1+ 0 0 1+
18 freshwater 2 ㎖/20 hr 3+ 2+ 3+ 3+ 2+ 2+ 1+
19 freshwater 2 ㎖/20 hr 1+ 0 2+ 2+ 0 2+ 2+
20 freshwater 2 ㎖/20 hr 1+ 2+ 3+ 1+ 0 1+ 1+
21 PM∗ seawater 2 ㎖/2 hr 0 2+ 0 0 0 0 2+
22 PM seawater 2 ㎖/20 hr 0 1+ 1+ 0 0 0 2+
23 PM freshwater 2 ㎖/2 hr 0 1+ 0 0 0 0 1+
24 PM freshwater 2 ㎖/20 hr 0 2+ 2+ 0 0 0 1+
25 Negative control 0 1+ 0 0 0 0 1+

∗ PM: Postmortem

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