Study of cathepsin A, B and D activities in the skin wound edges. Its application to the differential diagnosis between vital and postmortem wounds.

The aims of the authors in this paper has been to check the diagnostic ability of the Cathepsin A, B and D concentrations in the skin wound edges to the differential diagnosis between vital and postmortem wounds. We have studied 56 domestic pigs grouped in seven experimental series consisting of 8 animals in each, according to the time (0, 5, 15, 30 min and 1, 3 and 6 h) after the injury. The enzymatic activities were investigated following the methods by Bowen and Davison Biochem. J., 131 (1973) 417-419, Suhar and Marks J. Biochem., 101 (1979) 23-30 and by Anson (modified by Yamamoto, Eur. J. Biochem., 95 (1979) 459-467) for Cathepsin A, B and D, respectively. For the differential diagnosis between vital and postmortem wounds, our results showed that the most useful markers studied are the Cathepsin A and D activities, Cathepsin D that of the first one.