Citation

Chen YC, Deng ZK, Zhu JZ. Forensic Sci. Int. 1990; 46(3): 289-294.

Affiliation

Department of Forensic Pathology, Sun Yat-Sen University of Medical Sciences, Guangzhou, China.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1990, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

2376369

Abstract

In view of the high content of fluorine in the water of a vast area of Guangdong Province, we detected the serum fluorine level in rabbits that died of drowning and compared them with those obtained from rabbits immersed in water after death from hanging. The fluorine content in water is about 15-fold higher than in the normal serum content. In drowned rabbits, the serum fluorine values are significantly higher than normal while in control cases the serum fluorine values are slightly lower than normal. The fluorine content in human serum is similar with that of rabbits. It suggests that detection of serum fluorine content might be a valuable method for the diagnosis of drowning in those areas where there are high water fluorine content.

Language: en