Forensic diagnosis of abuse and determining the duration based on the changes of nervous・endocrine・immune systems by the stress

我们检查了心理虐待小鼠约束应激模型和尸检病例中下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺（HPA）轴的变化，以确定诊断儿童虐待的可能指标。动物实验和尸体解剖样本的结果都表明，包括相对短时间的虐待在内的应激会导致肾上腺肥大，这是由于糖皮质激素分泌过多，糖皮质激素物质肾上腺胆固醇降低，与腺体胆固醇供应相关的SR-BI、HMGR和HSL肾上腺基因表达增加。我们的研究结果表明，HPA轴的分析可能有助于儿童虐待的诊断和确定持续时间。

We examined changes in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal(HPA) axis in a mouse restraint stress model of psychological abuse and in autopsy cases to determine a possible indicator for the diagnosis of child abuse. Both results of animal experiments and autopsy samples indicate that stress including abuse for relatively short periods causes adrenal hypertrophy due to the overproduction of glucocorticoids, decrease of adrenal cholesterol which is material for glucocorticoids, and increase of adrenal gene expression of SR-BI, HMGR and HSL that are related to cholesterol supply to the glands. Our results suggest that the analysis of the HPA axis may be useful for the diagnosis of child abuse and determining the duration.