GENDER DIFFERENCES IN CATION CONCENTRATION OF VITREOUS HUMOR IN THREE DOMESTICATED ANIMALS

ABSTRACT

The determination of time since death or post mortem interval (PMI) is the time that has elapsed since an individual’s death. A body undergoes complex and intricate changes after death. Various physiochemical changes occur right after or later on after death. Vitreous humor is ideal for postmortem chemical analysis, as it is relatively isolated from blood and other body fluids that are affected by postmortem changes such as redistribution and hemoconcentration. It also resists putrefaction longer than other body fluids. The vitreous humor contains a variety of measurable cations and other entities. The purpose of this study was to establish and quantify the concentration of cations in the vitreous humor of male and female eyes at different postmortem intervals (0, 4,8, and 24hours), as well as to compare the different concentrations at the aforementioned times. A total of 10 pairs of bovine eyes, 10 pairs of caprine eyes and 10 pairs of porcine eyes from freshly butchered cows, goats and pigs from different abattoirs in Benin city, Edo state. Each of the 10 pairs included 5 pairs of male and 5 pairs of female. The Coe method, which calls for puncturing the sclera on the lateral canthus with a 12ml syringe and a 20 gauge needle, was used to extract the vitreous humor. The Chemical laboratory at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) carried out a biochemical analysis of the vitreous samples from the various pairs of eyes using an Ultraviolet Visible Spectrophotometer.