Isolation of tooth pulp cells for sex chromatin studies in experimental dehydrated and cremated remains

In experiments designed to assess sex chromatin in artificially mummified and heated pulp tissue, a method was devised that successfully separates cells while minimizing nuclear damage. Sex chromatin (both Barr bodies and F-bodies) is shown to preserve in dehydrated human pulps up to one year. Human pulp tissue retains sex diagnostic characteristics when heated to 100°C for up to 1 h. Parallel experiments on extracted teeth from young pigs reveals comparable tissue preservation. Heat penetration is retarded, however, in unextracted pig teeth in fleshed jaws such that temperatures could be raised to 300°C for longer than 1 h. Heat penetration into fleshed material was further tested by the insertion of thermocouple probes to assess the temperature attained within the pulp chamber. At chamber temperatures up to 75°C sex diagnosis in human pulps from extracted teeth was still possible. In outdoor incineration of fleshed pigs' heads in an open fire, 75°C in the pulp chamber was reached at a fire temperature within the range 500–700°C. The implications of these findings for forensic situations are described.