ISSN: 0022-1198
CODEN: JFSCA
Page Count: 4

The Use of the D-, L- Aspartic Ratio in Decalcified Collagen from Human Dentin as an Estimator of Human Age
Pilin, A
Institute of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, University Hospital in Prague,

Pudil, F
Institute of Chemical Technology,

Čabala, R
Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Hlavova 2030,

Bencko, V
Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology of the 1st Medical Faculty, Charles University, Prague,

(Received 19 May 2000; accepted 2 December 2000)

Abstract

Among the methods dealing with the age estimation, the evaluation of the ratio of the D-, L- form of the aspartic acid in tissues with a low metabolic turnover is considered to be the most precise. We introduced demineralization of the dentin with 0.5 M EDTA adjusted to pH = 7.4. The advantage of such a procedure is that after demineralization we obtained pure insoluble protein (collagen) and soluble noncollagenous proteins in one step. In this study we analyzed insoluble collagen. The amino acids obtained after the hydrolysis were derivatized into TFA isopropyl esters and analyzed by gas chromatography on Chirasil L-Val capillary column. We analyzed human dentin from the lower canines. The correlation coefficient was 0.93 for our set of 71 persons. The result concurred with those of other scientists.

Keywords:
forensic science, forensic odontology, forensic anthropology, human age estimation, chiral separation, aspartic acid

Paper ID: JFS15126J
DOI: 10.1520/JFS15126J
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