Abstract: Objective To observe the degradation of actin and tubulin in the liver tissue of rats after death and to find an objective indicator of the postmortem interval(PMI). Methods Female rats were killed under anesthesia by ether and incubated at 21℃ in a temperature controlled system to simulate postmortem changes for 18 days postmortem. Protein in the hepatic tissue was extracted, actin and tubulin were then examined by western blot. Thereafter, the semi-quantitative analysis of the image of western blot was performed. Results Actin in the liver tissue of rats could be detected at 8 days postmortem, but could not be examined after 10 days postmortem. β-tubulin rather than α-tubulin could be examined after 2 days postmortem, and β-tubulin could not be examined at 4 days postmortem. Conclusion There is some difference in the degradation between actin and tubulin, their different preservation period postmortem may be used as a parameter for PMI estimation.

Key words: postmortem interval, actin, tubulin, liver, western blot