Histamine Vital-Reaction Marker
Definition
Biochemical indicator released from mast cells within minutes of tissue injury. A 50% or greater histamine elevation at the wound margin versus a remote control site is a recognised antemortem vital-reaction indicator, useful in immediately fatal wounds where cellular infiltration has not occurred.
Related terms
- Agonal Period
- The final period of physiological life between loss of consciousness and cardiac arrest. Injuries inflicted in this period are legally antemortem but...
- Fibronectin
- Glycoprotein deposited in wound matrix within 12-24 hours of antemortem injury. Detectable by immunostaining; serves as an intermediate-stage vital-reaction marker when PMN...
- Perimortem Window
- The brief interval before and immediately after cardiac arrest in which injuries may be inflicted during life but produce absent or minimal...
- PMN (Polymorphonuclear Neutrophil) Infiltration
- The first histological cellular marker of antemortem vital reaction. Begins emigrating from wound-margin venules within 1-2 hours of injury; histologically visible at...
- Vital Reaction
- The suite of physiological responses to tissue injury that require a functioning cardiovascular and cellular metabolism to occur: haemorrhage, neutrophil infiltration, vasoactive...
Explained in
- Antemortem vs Post-Mortem Injury DistinctionBiochemical indicator released from mast cells within minutes of tissue injury. A 50% or greater histamine elevation at the wound margin versus a remote contro...