@article{ref1,
title="Intranuclear ubiquitin immunoreactivity in the pigmented neurons of the substantia nigra in fire fatalities",
journal="International journal of legal medicine",
year="2001",
author="Quan, Linda and Zhu, B. L. and Oritani, S. and Ishida, K. and Fujita, M. Q. and Maeda, H.",
volume="114",
number="6",
pages="310-315",
abstract="To evaluate the significance of immunohistochemical staining of ubiquitin (heat shock protein) in the midbrain for medico-legal investigation of death in fires, we examined forensic autopsy cases of fire fatalities (n = 35) in comparison with controls (n = 27; brain stem injury, acute myocardial infarction and carbon monoxide poisoning other than fire fatality). There were two intranuclear staining patterns in the nuclei of pigmented substantia nigra neurons: a type of inclusion (possible Marinesco bodies) and a diffuse staining. Percentage of nuclear ubiquitin positivity (Ub-positive %) in fire fatalities (2.7-44.7%; mean, 18.5%) was significantly higher than in brain stem injury (n = 9; 0-10.4%; mean, 4.5%) and myocardial infarction (n = 14; 1.5-14.6%; mean, 6.9%), independently of blood carboxyhemoglobin (COHb) levels. Age-dependent increase in Ub-positive % was observed in lower COHb (< 60%) cases. The intranuclear diffuse ubiquitin staining was not observed in cases of high blood cyanide level (> 1.0 microg/ml). These observations showed that intranuclear ubiquitin immunoreactivity of the pigmented substantia nigra neurons in the midbrain was induced by severe stress in fires.<p /><p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0937-9827",
doi="",
url="http://dx.doi.org/"
}