Cytomorphological characteristics of necroptates of internal organs of dogs in the early post-mortem period in the aspect of forensic veterinary examination

Abstract

The relevance of the study lies in the need for forensic veterinary examination of animal corpses for scientific justification of informative diagnostic criteria for assessing the prescription of death, especially in the early post-mortem period. However, information about early post-mortem changes in dog cadavers at the microstructural level in the Ukrainian and foreign scientific literature is quite fragmentary. In this regard, the purpose of this paper is to establish the informative dynamics of the processes of cell destruction and bacterial contamination of internal organs of dog corpses during the first post-mortem day to establish probable expert criteria for the prescription of death of sub-expert animals during the forensic veterinary examination. A leading approach to the investigation of this problem is the method of obtaining a series of necroptates from lungs, heart, liver, spleen, kidney, pancreas, and brain from canine cadavers, over the same time interval during the first day after death. In cytological preparations obtained from necroptates, the number of destroyed cells and bacterial units was counted using optical microscopy. Based on the results of the dynamics of bacterial contamination and the intensity of morphological changes in spleen and pancreatic cells, their expert information content was established to solve the question of the prescription of death of dogs, regardless of weight and fatness indicators. It was found that the dynamics of bacterial contamination and cellular destruction of the brain, kidneys, and lungs of dog corpses have average expert information content, while the liver and heart are not informative. It was proved that the dynamics of destructive post-mortem processes in the cells of the compact organs of the corpses of dogs of different weight and fatness at the appropriate times probably do not differ and develop with the same intensity. The obtained results of the study will have significance both in the theory of forensic veterinary examination and directly applied, specifically when the forensic expert solves the question regarding the time limit for the death of the animal