Search

Objective: A precisely estimated age will reduce the time and cost of identifying unknown deceased persons. At present aspartic acid racemization (AAR) of dentin is the best method for age estimation from body remains. However, skeletal or part of body remains may not be available for analysis by the Dextro/Levo (D/L) ratio. Thus, age estimation by using AAR from other organs, for example, bones, is necessary. The present study evaluated age estimation methods using aspartic amino acid racemization from the skull and sternum in the Thai population. Design: To examine the total amino acid of skull and sternum by using the AAR technique. Materials and Methods: Bone samples were collected from autopsy cases. Forty pieces of temporal bone and manubro-sternum from each region were used to analyze the D/L ratio. Results: The age estimation equation of the skull age was ((K- 0.0203)/0.0005)), which R* 1 2 and R were 0.511, 0.7151 respectively and SEE was 17.46 years, while the age estimation equation of the sternum was ((K- 0.0095)/0.0003)), R2 was 0.277 and R was 0.527 and SEE was 31.52 years. Conclusions: The skull was not a good specimen for age estimation by using the AAR method. However, this method may be beneficial in the case of fragmented skull remains. The sternum may not be suitable for use in age estimation by using the AAR technique in a forensic context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]