Estimation of Chronological Age from Postmortem Tissues Based on Amino Acid Racemization.

Skin and cartilage tissue specimens from 32 male and 13 female corpses aged between 17 and 50 years were collected within 24 h after the death. Each specimen was analyzed for the composition of dextro (D) and levo (L) forms of aspartate, glutamate, and alanine. Linear regression models were constructed using ln [(1 + D/L)/(1 - D/L] equation to define the relationship between the extent of racemization and the chronological age.