S. Ritz et al., IDENTIFICATION OF OSTEOCALCIN AS A PERMANENT AGING CONSTITUENT OF THEBONE-MATRIX - BASIS FOR AN ACCURATE AGE AT DEATH DETERMINATION, Forensic science international, 77(1-2), 1996, pp. 13-26
Age at death determination based on aspartic acid racemization in dent
in has been applied successfully in forensic odontology for several ye
ars now. An age-dependent accumulation of D-aspartic acid has also rec
ently been demonstrated in bone osteocalcin, one of the most abundant
noncollagenous proteins of the organic bone matrix. Evaluation of thes
e initial data on in vivo racemization of aspartic acid in bone osteoc
alcin was taken a step further. After purification of osteocalcin from
53 skull bone specimens, the extent of aspartic acid racemization in
this peptide was determined. The D-aspartic acid content of purified b
one osteocalcin exhibited a very close relationship to age at death. T
his confirmed identification of bone osteocalcin as a permanent, 'agin
g' peptide of the organic bone matrix. Its D-aspartic acid content may
be used as a measure of its age and hence that of the entire organism
. This new biochemical approach to determination of age at death by an
alyzing bone is complex and demanding from a methodologic point of vie
w, but appears to be superior in precision and reproducibility to most
other methods applicable to bone.