Effect of Autolysis on Interpretating Results of ImmunochistochemicalEvidence of Myoglobin and Fibrinogen in the Myocardium

Overview

Immunohistochemical detection of myoglobin and fibrinogen in the myocardium makes it possib-le to diagnose very early stages of ischaemic/hypoxic changes of the heart muscle. The authorsdemonstrate on the myocardium of a 58-years-old female patients who died suddenly with thefinding of acute infarction of the anterior wall of the left ventricle with transmural rupture andcardiac tamponade the effect of autolysis on this examination. Tissue excision taken from theclose vicinity of the rupture were subjected to autolysis at room temperature and immersed informol for fixation within an interval of 24 hours. The control series of examinations was made ina similar way on the heart muscle of a 20-years-old woman who died from violent death, andischaemic changes of the heart muscle were not anticipated. While in the early stages of autoly-sis it was possible to use combined immunohistochemical detection of myoglobin and fibrinogen,after a longer postmortal interval extensive artificial losses of myoglobin were observed, and themethod of detection of fibrinogen deposits in damaged cardiomyocytes seemed more suitable.Even after a postmortal interval of 168 hours it was possible to differentiate reliably damagedmyocytes with fibrinogen deposits from intact muscle fibres, where fibrinogen deposits were notobserved.

Key words:
myocardium - myoglobin - fibrinogen - immunohistochemistry - autolysis