The application of amino acid racemization in the acid soluble fraction of enamel to the estimation of the age of human teeth
The application of amino acid racemization in the acid soluble fraction of enamel to the estimation of the age of human teeth
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DOI：
10.1016/j.forsciint.2007.04.226
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发表时间：
2008-02-25
影响因子：
2.2
通讯作者：
Collins, M. J.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Griffin, R. C.;Moody, H.;Collins, M. J.
法医遗骸鉴定中的死亡年龄推断是法医人类学研究的重要课题之一。大多数现有的形态学和组织学技术是高度不准确的，并显示出低估老年人的年龄的偏见。一种在法医年龄估计中已经成功的技术是牙本质中的氨基酸外消旋化。然而，这种方法不能用于死后间隔超过20年的遗骸。另一种方法是测量牙釉质中的氨基酸外消旋化，据信牙釉质对死后的变化更具抵抗力。测定了现代已知年龄牙齿的釉质蛋白酸溶性部分中氨基酸外消旋化的程度。牙齿的年龄和外消旋化的程度之间存在很强的相关性。未检测到年龄估计误差方向的系统偏倚。对于大多数分析的牙齿，龋齿的存在并不影响所获得的结果。在少数情况下，龋齿显示出比个体年龄预期更高的外消旋化水平。这些结果表明，釉质中氨基酸消旋有可能用于骨骼遗骸的年龄估计。(C)2007爱思唯尔爱尔兰有限公司保留所有权利。
Estimation of age-at-death for skeletonised forensic remains is one of the most significant problems in forensic anthropology. The majority of existing morphological and histological techniques are highly inaccurate, and show a bias towards underestimating the age of older individuals. One technique which has been successful in forensic age estimation is amino acid racemization in dentine. However, this method cannot be used on remains where the post-mortem interval is greater than 20 years. An alternative approach is to measure amino acid racemization in dental enamel, which is believed to be more resistant to change post-mortem. The extent of amino acid racemization in the acid soluble fraction of the enamel proteins was determined for modem known age teeth. A strong correlation was observed between the age of the tooth and the extent of racemization. No systematic bias in the direction of age estimation errors was detected. For the majority of teeth analyzed, the presence of dental caries did not affect the results obtained. In a minority of cases, carious teeth showed a higher level of racemization than would be expected given the age of the individual. These results indicate that amino acid racemization in enamel has the potential to be used in age estimation of skeletal remains. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.