Background: Estimation of time of death is one of the important concerns in autopsy practice. Utility of postmortem autolytic changes occurring in the tissues and tissue fluid for estimation of postmortem interval had been evaluated by number of researchers with varied success. Aim: The purpose of present preliminary study was to analyze morphological changes in salivary glands and to identify morphological parameters that could help in determining the time of death. Material and method: The study consists of 20 human  cadaver comprising 14 male and 6 females and their age ranged from 19 years to 42 years. At autopsy, submandibular salivary glands were collected from the submandibular area through the longitudinal midline incision and subjected for light microscopy. Result: The results of present study show that the submandibular salivary glands undergo variable morphological changes in the postmortem period and these cellular changes can be observed by light microscopy. Conclusion: Currently there is very limited scientific information available regarding the postmortem autolytic process of salivary glands. Further studies involving cold environ mental condition may be productive as it was noticed that mucous acini offer greater resistance for autolysis than serous acini and duct cells. 

Keywords: Autopsy; Death; Post-mortem interval; Time since death; Salivary gland.