Commentary: Mast cells and dendritic cells as a tools to discriminate vital and post mortem lesions

Abstract

The determination of vitality and wound age is one of the most central research areas in legal medicine, about which a large amount of scientific work has been submitted for many decades up until now. In the first minutes or hours, standard histological examination may not determine whether the wound was inflicted in the pre- or post-mortem period. This commentary is focused on the recent proposal to use mast cells and dendritic cells as cellular tools for the discrimination of vital and post mortem wounds.