ISSN: 0022-1198
CODEN: JFSCA
Published Online: 1 April 1983
Page Count: 14

Individual Characteristics of Chemically Modified Human Hairs Revealed by Scanning Electron Microscopy
Kingston, CR
John Jay College of Criminal Justice, NY

Kobilinsky, L
John Jay College of Criminal Justice, NY

Choudhry, MY
John Jay College of Criminal Justice, NY

De Forest, PR
John Jay College of Criminal Justice, NY

(Received 22 May 1982; accepted 19 August 1982)

Abstract

Hair that is treated with several different chemical reagents including those that are proteolytic, denaturing, or disulfide bond-reducing agents, undergoes structural alterations both internally and externally as revealed by scanning electron microscopic analysis. Some of these agents produce varying degrees of morphologic alterations in hairs obtained from different individuals. It would seem that this technique can be useful in the discrimination of human hairs from different individuals, since the chemically induced topological changes on the hair shaft apparently exhibit a high degree of intraindividual consistency.

Keywords:
criminalistics, microscopy, hair, human identification

Paper ID: JFS11510J
DOI: 10.1520/JFS11510J
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