Learning Objectives

1. Define the term 'pathological lesion', and appreciate that there are other
changes in tissues with which they can be confused.

Lesions: Those that are due to the disease

Agonal change: Those that may occur prior to death
Post Mortem change: Those occurring after death and before the cadaver is examined

Post mortem changes:

- Algor mortis - cooling
- Rigor mortis - rigidity
- Livor mortis - hypostatic congestion
- Post Mortem clotting
- post mortem imbibition - staining
- gaseous distension
- autolysis
- putrefaction

2. Discuss the various factors involved in development of pathology, categories of

agents causing disease, and the effects of disease within the body and its organs.

Algor Mortis - cooling

- the cooling of a cadaver to the temperature of the environment
- aids in estimating time of death
- practical importance in meat production

Rigor mortis - rigidity

- stiffening after death due to muscle contraction
- begins 1-6 hours after death
- starts in heart with blood pushed from LV
- head and neck first, then extremities

- slow stiffening of muscles of body caused by enzymatic activity

- when ATP is depleted, cell can no longer store calcium within SR
- free calcium is released into cell cytoplasm and muscle contracts
- influenced by ambient temperature
- irreversible except by autolysis

- occurs rapidly in excited or stressed animals

- may not develop in emaciated animals
- cadaveric spasm - instantaneous form of rigor which is seen in sudden or violent death
 Post Mortem Clotting of blood:
Blood separates:
- upper plasma layer - translucent, like chicken fat
- lower red blood cell layer - very red and resembles red current jelly

Difference between post/ante mortem clotting:

- Post mortem: no damage to inner surface of vessel and clot can be easily removed
- Ante mortem: firmly attached to underlying vascular endothelium, has a white interior and is
layered

Livor Mortis - hypostatic congestion:

- Discolouring the skin
- gravitational pooling of blood
- begins an hour after death
- clotted blood can be fixed in place 12-24 hours, so movement will not influence distribution
- most apparent in animals with little hair cover/light skin
- easy to see in lung or kidney of animals

Post Mortem imbibition staining:

Blood:
- blood pigment tends to diffuse out of blood cells and through walls of small vessels
- can be seen easily on surface vessels of organs (intestines)
- foetuses dead a few days prior to expulsion are usually diffusely red with imbibition
- blood in RV diffusely stains endocardium
- if haemolytic crisis, staining occurs early after death

Bile pigment:
- earliest local colour change
- vicinity of gall bladder - liver, gut, stomach, omentum
- bile salts diffuse readily from gall bladder
- different from jaundice - jaundice is diffuse yellowish discolouration of normally pale tissues.
Post mortem staining colours:
Red: Haemolytic staining
Yellow: Biliary imbibition
Green: Pseduomelanoisis (Fe + S= FeS)

Gaseous Distention of alimentary tract:

- Bacterial fermentation producing gas
- may be surface pallor of adjacent organs due to pressure squeezing blood out of adjacent tissue
- Abdominal viscera may be pale
- gas rises - distended loops may be pale and lower loops hypostatically congested (this is not
inflammation)
- if gaseous distension excessive, distended intestine may tear

Autolysis:
- Tissue breakdown due to anoxia
- Involves no inflammatory responses
- Process is enhanced by failure to cool the body after death
- body should be chilled, not frozen

Normal cell: energy derived from ATP maintains cell volume by regulating intra/extracellular
sodium and potassium concentrations and therefore intracellular water concentration and cell
volume
Anoxic/hypoxic cell: ATP levels fall and are depleted. This leads to cellular membrane damage,
destroys permeability barrier that retains proteins and electrolytes within cell and restricts
sodium, calcium and water entry from extracellular space

Putrefaction:
- Dead tissue is invaded by anaerobic saprophytic bacteria (from gut)
- Digestion of tissue proteins with gas formation
- foul smelling substances: hydrogen sulphide, indole, skatole
- Tissue turns green, brown, or black
- Most bacteria are anaerobes and include the Clostridia group of organisms (found in large
intestine)
- they attack proteins, fat and carbs
- they break down into simpler substances with unpleasant odour

Hydrogen sulphide - responsible for colour and smell

Pseduomelanosis - green/blackish tissue discolour due to Ferrous Sulphide

Autolysis and Putrefaction:

Autolysis + Putrefaction = decomposition

Decomp occurs faster at higher temperatures

Decomp occurs faster in air compared to water
Deep burial is = to storage at 4C
Fat Saponification - hydrolysis and hydrogenation of subcutaneous fat

Post Mortem damage:

Insects:
- Bluebottles and flies
- maggots, the larval stage are most active tissue consumers
- eggs laid on lips, nostrils or genitals
- maggots develop ~ day
- secrete digestive fluid that softens tissue

Predators:
- birds peck out eyes
- Dogs, cats, foxes, badgers, rats eat around body orifices
- wounds are clean cut
- no bleeding or inflamed margins

Mummification:
- in dry conditions the carcase will dessicate
- skin and tissue become hard and leathery
- mould may form patches on the eye
- dryness will inhibit bacterial growth

Freezing:
- Bodies should be stored at 4C
- Freezing causes crystallisation of fluids/tissue
- cells will be disrupted
- histological changes will be distorted
- can introduce its own artefacts

3. Describe the specific changes that can occur with time during the interval
between death and post-mortem examination.

Timing of death:
<3 hrs - warm and flaccid
3-8 hrs - warm and stiff
8-36 hrs - cold and stiff
>36 hrs - cold and flaccid