Reverse Aqua Regia: A New Method For Extraction Of Diatoms From Human Tissue

The presence of diatoms in human tissues contributes significantly in determining the mode of death in drowning. Conventional acid digestion of tissues for extraction of diatoms is a time consuming and potentially hazardous technique. The various techniques of extraction and analysis affect the identification of diatoms from human tissues. We have developed and tested a new method which is a simple, safe, time saving, economical extraction technique and extracts diatoms rapidly by removing the extracellular and intracellular organic matter from the siliceous frustules of diatoms. The method was compared with other conventional methods of extraction. This method provides results within 2-3 hours from the tissue samples of suspected drowning cases without interfering with microscopic observation and may be useful in current forensic practices.