The effect of temperature on the mechanical aspects of rigor mortis in a liquid paraffin model.
Rigor mortis is an important phenomenon to estimate the postmortem interval in forensic medicine. Rigor mortis is affected by temperature. We measured stiffness of rat muscles using a liquid paraffin model to monitor the mechanical aspects of rigor mortis at five temperatures (37, 25, 10, 5 and 0°C). At 37, 25 and 10°C, the progression of stiffness was slower in cooler conditions. At 5 and 0°C, the muscle stiffness increased immediately after the muscles were soaked in cooled liquid paraffin and then muscles gradually became rigid without going through a relaxed state. This phenomenon suggests that it is important to be careful when estimating the postmortem interval in cold seasons.
Department of Forensic Medicine, The Jikei University School of Medicine, 3-25-8 Nishi-Shinbashi, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-8461, Japan. Electronic address: m.ozawa@jikei.ac.jp.
Masayoshi
M
Ozawa
Kimiharu
K
Iwadate
Sari
S
Matsumoto
Kumiko
K
Asakura
Eriko
E
Ochiai
Kyoko
K
Maebashi
D000818:Animals; D049429:Forensic Pathology / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000473:pathology; D016612:Paraffin Embedding / Q000379:methods; D011180:Postmortem Changes; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012298:Rigor Mortis / Q000473:pathology*; D013696:Temperature; D013997:Time Factors
Liquid paraffin model; Rigor mortis; Stiffness; Temperature