Forty-eight Sprague-Dawley rats were killed by cervical dislocation, electric shock and drowning to investigate the correlations between types of death and levels of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), adenosine diphosphate (ADP) and adenosine monophosphate (AMP) in heart tissue after death. The hearts were taken out after death and ATP, ADP and AMP levels in the heart muscle were measured. The ATP and ADP levels were lower in rats killed by electric shock and with drowning. This may be due to ventricular fibrillation caused by electric shock in the electric shock group, and debilitation of rats in the drowning group before death, which both may diminish energy sources and cause the ATP level decline. We conclude that measurement of ATP, ADP, and AMP levels in the heart tissue after death may give us an idea about the type and time of death.

Forty-eight Sprague-Dawley rats were killed by cervical dislocation, electric shock and drowning to investigate the correlations between types of death and levels of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), adenosine diphosphate (ADP) and adenosine monophosphate (AMP) in heart tissue after death. The hearts were taken out after death and ATP, ADP and AMP levels in the heart muscle were measured. The ATP and ADP levels were lower in rats killed by electric shock and with drowning. This may be due to ventricular fibrillation caused by electric shock in the electric shock group, and debilitation of rats in the drowning group before death, which both may diminish energy sources and cause the ATP level decline. We conclude that measurement of ATP, ADP, and AMP levels in the heart tissue after death may give us an idea about the type and time of death.