In order to better differentiate ante-mortem lesions from post-mortem retinal autolysis, the temporal sequence of post-mortem changes was studied in a well-controlled mouse model. Mice were of the same strain, age and sex, and were held at a constant ambient temperature. Eyes were collected at various times up to 72 h after death and immersion-fixed in either Davidson's fixative or 10% neutral buffered formalin, paraffin-embedded and sections cut and stained with haematoxylin and eosin. The most prominent, and early, autolytic change was retinal detachment, and subsequent folding, which occurred immediately after death in formalin-fixed eyes, but not until 2 h post mortem with Davidson's fixative. Retinal separation was complete at 16 h, or almost complete by 2 h, in formalin, but in Davidson's fixative, was only partial and segmental, the latter not becoming total until much later. Retinal detachment was attended by progressively more severe disruption and dissolution of photoreceptors and, particularly in Davidson's-fixed retinas, the rod outer segment often showed marked homogenization from 30 min to 4 h after death. The other major early change was nuclear pyknosis in the inner nuclear layer. Ganglion cells initially had cytoplasmic swelling, followed by shrinkage and basophilia (at 4 h with formalin and 16 h with Davidson's), with nuclear pyknosis becoming increasingly common over time. While the three retinal neuronal layers eventually became more attenuated and depleted of cells, the thickness of these layers was augmented by severe swelling. These findings show that the post-mortem interval at which histological interpretation of retinal changes becomes potentially compromised is dependent on the duration of this interval and the fixative used.

为了更好地区分死前病变与死后视网膜自溶，在控制良好的小鼠模型中研究了死后变化的时间顺序。小鼠具有相同的品系、年龄和性别，并保持在恒定的环境温度下。在死亡后 72 小时内的不同时间收集眼睛，并在戴维森固定剂或 10% 中性缓冲福尔马林中浸泡固定，石蜡包埋，切片切割并用苏木精和伊红染色。最显着和早期的自溶变化是视网膜脱离和随后的折叠，在福尔马林固定的眼睛死后立即发生，但直到死后2 小时用戴维森的固定剂。在福尔马林中，视网膜分离在 16 小时时完成，或几乎在 2 小时时完成，但在戴维森的固定剂中，仅是部分和节段性的，后者直到很久以后才完全分离。视网膜脱离伴随着光感受器逐渐更严重的破坏和溶解，特别是在戴维森固定的视网膜中，杆状外段在死后 30 分钟到 4 小时之间经常表现出明显的同质化。另一个主要的早期变化是内核层的核固缩。神经节细胞最初具有细胞质肿胀，随后出现萎缩和嗜碱性（福尔马林 4 小时和戴维森氏 16 小时），随着时间的推移，核固缩变得越来越普遍。虽然三个视网膜神经元层最终变得更加弱化和细胞耗尽，这些层的厚度因严重膨胀而增加。这些发现表明，对视网膜变化的组织学解释可能受到损害的死后间隔取决于该间隔的持续时间和使用的固定剂。