Saturated NaCl
Definition
Sodium chloride dissolved in distilled water to saturation, roughly 360 g/L at room temperature. The default preservative for solid viscera in Indian autopsy practice. Preserves most analytes by lowering water activity and inhibiting bacterial decomposition without altering the chemistry of the target.
- Concentration
- Roughly 360 g/L at room temperature
- Use
- Preservative for solid viscera in autopsy
- Setting
- Indian autopsy practice
- Mechanism
- Lowers water activity, inhibits bacterial decomposition
Common questions
Why is saturated NaCl preferred over formalin for viscera destined for toxicological analysis?+
Formalin chemically reacts with and can destroy or alter many drugs and poisons, making later toxicological testing unreliable, whereas saturated saline preserves tissue mainly by limiting bacterial activity through reduced water availability, leaving the target analytes largely unaltered.
Does saturated NaCl preservation work equally well for every class of poison?+
No single preservative suits every analyte; some volatile or highly reactive compounds may still degrade or partition into the preservative over time, so the choice of preservative is matched to the suspected poison class whenever that is known at the time of collection.
Why is preventing bacterial decomposition specifically important for a toxicology sample?+
Bacterial activity can both destroy the compound being tested for and, in some cases, generate compounds like ethanol postmortem that were not present in life, so controlling decomposition protects both the sensitivity and the specificity of the eventual test result.
Related terms
- BNSS Forwarding Form
- The viscera-forwarding requisition that accompanies sealed bottles from the autopsy mortuary to the SFSL or CFSL. Successor to the CrPC-era Form 65...
- Chain of Custody
- The documented chronological record of who collected, handled, transferred, and examined a piece of evidence. For digital evidence, chain of custody includes...
- Post-Mortem Redistribution (PMR)
- The phenomenon where drug and poison concentrations shift between body compartments after death, generally moving out of solid organs back into the...
- Viscera
- The standard set of organs and fluids collected at a suspected poisoning autopsy in India: stomach with contents, a length of upper...
- Vitreous Humour
- The gel-filled interior of the eye, anatomically isolated from hepatic and gastric post-mortem redistribution sources. In forensic toxicology of hooch deaths, vitreous...
- Wide-Mouthed Bottle
- A glass jar with a mouth diameter wide enough to admit a whole stomach or a 200 g chunk of liver. Capacity...