title: Cardiac blood pH as a possible indicator of postmortem interval.
abstract: Postmortem changes in the pH of blood and selected tissues in rats were evaluated at intervals ranging from 2 min to 96 h. Cardiac blood pH was significantly and reproducibly decreased in all groups at all postmortem intervals, independent of the method of sacrifice used. A preliminary study using cardiac blood obtained at autopsy from a limited number (n = 11) of human subjects demonstrated a significant negative correlation (r = -0.908, P less than 0.01) between postmortem interval (range 2 to 20 h) and cardiac blood pH.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis.
authors.forename: W R
authors.initials: WR
authors.lastname: Sawyer
authors.forename: D R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Steup
authors.forename: B S
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.forename: R B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Forney
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000818:Animals; D001769:Blood; D005260:Female; D005554:Forensic Medicine; D006321:Heart; D006801:Humans; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011180:Postmortem Changes; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D013997:Time Factors