ISSN: 0022-1198
CODEN: JFSCA
Page Count: 6

Spectroscopic Determination of Skin Viability. A Predictor of Postmortem Interval
Doukas, AG
Wellman Laboratories of Photomedicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, MA

Bamberg, M
Wellman Laboratories of Photomedicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, MA

Kollias, N

Evans, R
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, The Commonwealth of Massachusetts, MA

Gillies, R
Wellman Laboratories of Photomedicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, MA

(Received 22 January 1999; accepted 10 May 1999)

Abstract

We have demonstrated that skin viability decreases at a measurable rate following death in an animal model. The decreased skin viability was measured by fluorescein diacetate and ethidium bromide using fluorescence emission spectroscopy. There is significant decrease of the fluorescence intensity of the fluorescein diacetate assay between the 1–4 h, the 6–24 h, and the >40 h time points postmortem. For times between 6–24 h and >40 h postmortem the ethidium bromide assay showed consistent and significant increases in signal. The fluorescence measurements in this study showed that under the experimental conditions the time of death could be determined for <4, 6–24, and >40 h potmotrem. The application of these assays in the field will require further study of the environmental factors.

Keywords:
forensic science, postmortem interval, time of death, skin viability, fluorescence spectroscopy, fluorescein diacetate, ethidium bromide

Paper ID: JFS14638J
DOI: 10.1520/JFS14638J
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