Relative Expression of Indicators for Wound Age Estimation in Forensic Pathology.

Abstract In order to understand which kind of function genes play an important role for estimating wound age, the variation of difference genes' mRNA expression were compared after injury. The mRNA expression levels of seven candidate genes (ICAM-1, NF-κB, MX2, MT1, MT2, sTnI, and Cox6c) were analyzed in contused rat skeletal muscle at different time points using real-time fluorescent quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR). The raw Ct values were normalized relative to that of RPL32 mRNA, and converted to standard Ct values. At each time point after injury, the standard deviations (SD) of the standard Ct values were calculated by SPSS. The expression trends of the seven genes were all found to be related to wound age, but there were lower variation coefficients and greater reliability of s TnI and Cox6c when compared with other genes. The genes encoding structural proteins or proteins that perform basic functions can be suitable for wound age estimation.