POSTMORTEM CHANGES IN SERUM NORADRENALINE AND ADRENALINE CONCENTRATIONS IN RABBIT AND HUMAN CADAVERS

Postmortem changes in serum noradrenaline and adrenaline concentration s in adrenectomised rabbits and in human sudden death cases were measu red with HPLC in order to obtain information of the usefulness of thes e biogenic amines as indicators of antemortem stress. It appeared that serum concentrations increased with time postmortem, except for adren aline in the adrenectomised rabbits. The values varied considerably be tween individuals in both materials, It is concluded that postmortem a ssays of serum catecholamines cannot be used in practice to demonstrat e antemortem stress, although this would theoretically be a promising approach, e.g. in cases of suffocation. So far there seems to be no re liable and conclusive method for estimating short lasting antemortem s tress in individual forensic cases.