Detection of cardiomyocyte apoptosis in acute myocardial infarction

我们研究的目的是获得可靠的参数，并将凋亡细胞作为急性心肌梗死早期的诊断标记物应用于法医尸检案件。采用免疫组织化学和分子生物学方法，采用末端脱氧核苷酸转移酶介导的dUTP生物素缺口末端标记法(TUNEL)和DNA梯度法对法医尸检心肌组织进行检测。死后24小时内的急性心肌梗死患者，TUNEL法心肌细胞核染色呈强阳性，琼脂糖凝胶电泳法检测心肌细胞DNA片段化。在其他病例中，如窒息、河豚毒素中毒、酒精中毒、头部损伤和心肌炎，未发现凋亡细胞。然而，由于死后变化的影响，很难区分凋亡细胞和TUNEL阳性细胞。

The purpose of our study was to achieve reliable parameter and apply apoptotic cells as a diagnostic marker in an early stage of acute myocardial infarction to forensic autopsy cases. Myocardial tissue taken from forensic autopsy cases were examined by immunohistochemical and molecular-biological methods using the terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP biotin nick end labeling (TUNEL) and the DNA laddering method. In cases of acute myocardial infarction within 24 hours postmortem time, the nuclei of cardiomyocytes were stained strongly positive with TUNEL method and DNA fragmentation of myocardial cells was detected by agarose gel electrophoresis. In other cases such as asphyxia, tetrodotoxin poisoning, alcohol poisoning, head injury, and myocarditis, no apoptotic cells were found. However, it was difficult to discriminate between apoptotic cells and TUNEL-positive cells owing to the effects of the postmortem change.