Cortisol and pregnenolone as diagnostic criteria for evaluating the duration of dying of a person at the early stages of antemortem period

The content of cortisol and its precoursor pregnenolone in adrenal tissue was evaluated with the purpose of determining the duration of dying of a human being influenced by a lethal traumatic factor. It is shown that pregnenolone as an intermediate component of steroidogenesis is not identified in adrenal tissue of the persons who died as a result of a traumatic factor influence. The amount of cortisol in adrenal tissue differs depending on the duration of dying of a person and can be used as a diagnostic criterion for evaluating the duration of dying of the person at an early stage of antemortem period.