Emerging concept of vitreous concentrations of proteins and lipids as discriminant of fresh water drowning death.

BACKGROUND: Drowning is the leading cause of unintentional death in the world, with about 372,000 drowning deaths reported annually. Forensic opinion of drowning is considered one of the most difficult tasks in confirming the exact cause of death. Drowning is now possibly patronized to cover up intentional crimes. This study was aimed at utilizing concentrations of vitreous proteins and lipids in making inroad into the inquest of true drowning. Twelve albino rabbits constituted the sample size. The rabbits were divided into three groups; control death (CD), post-mortem submersion death (PSD) and truly drowned death (TDD). Vitreous humor was extracted from the eyes of all the rabbits and centrifuged for biochemical analysis. The biochemical parameters analyzed included vitreous total protein (TP), albumin (ALB), globulin (GLO), albumin/globulin (A/G) ratio, immunoglobulin G (IgG), immunoglobin M (IgM) total cholesterol (TC), triacylglycerol (TG), high density lipoprotein (HDL), low density lipoprotein (LDL), very low density lipoprotein (VLDL) and glucose (GLU) using standard methods.

RESULT: The mean concentrations of vitreous parameters amongst the groups were compared using one-way anova (pos hoc-LSD). The findings revealed that the concentrations of vitreous TP, GLO, IgG, IgM, TG, TC, TG, HDL, VLDL and GLU were significantly elevated (p < 0.05), whereas ALB and A/G ratio decreased significantly amongst the drowned death group compared to that either CD or PSD.

CONCLUSION: The findings have indicated that some vitreous protein and lipid parameters could aid in discriminating deaths that truly emanated from true drowning from that of post-mortem drowning and suffocation.