Corpus of biochemical changes after death by potassium intoxication in rabbits

OBJECTIVE: To explore the objective evidence of the corpus biochemical changes in rabbits for postmortem diagnosis of potassium intoxication. METHODS: Rabbits were sacrificed by Infusion of 0.3% KCl at full speed push or 1% KCl at 100 drip/min, respectively, with normal rabbits used as control. Cardiac blood and urine samples were collected before and after potassium infusion to examine the concentrations of various electrolytes (K+, Na+, Ca2+, Mg2+, Cl-, and HCO3-) and to observe the antemortem and postmortem biochemical changes. RESULTS: The mean lethal infusion time in the 0.3%KCl group was longer than that in the 1% KCl group (P = 0.006). The serum concentration of K+ increased while the serum concentrations of Na+, Ca2+, Cl-, and HCO3- decreased after the infusion. There were no statistically significant differences in the whole blood concentration of K+ as well as the serum concentration of Mg2+ between the two groups (P = 0.062). There were statistically significant differences in the concentrations of whole blood K+, as well as serum Na+, Mg2+, and Cl-, but not in the serum K+, Ca2+, and HCO3-. There were no statistically significant differences seen in the urine volumes and the concentrations of all the urine electrolytes between the groups. CONCLUSION: Examination of the concentrations of K+ both in the whole blood and serum, as well as Mg2+ in the serum may be helpful for postmortem diagnosis of potassium intoxication.