A preliminary investigation into postmortem changes in skinfold impedance during the early postmortem period in rats.
A highly accurate and reproducible technique was used to measure the electrical impedance (1 kHz) of a lateral abdominal skinfold, in each of eight rat cadavers stored at 9.0 +/- 0.7 degrees C, during the early postmortem period. Impedance increased exponentially between 1 and 120 h post mortem. Whether or not similar changes occur during the human postmortem period, and their potential value as a means of objective estimation of postmortem interval (PMI), remains to be established.
Querido
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Department of Physiology, University of Cape Town Medical School, South Africa. dquerido@physio.uct.ac.za
D000818:Animals; D001823:Body Composition; D017097:Electric Impedance; D005554:Forensic Medicine / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011180:Postmortem Changes; D051381:Rats; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012867:Skin / Q000473:pathology*; D013997:Time Factors