Species identification of bloodstains by ATR-FTIR spectroscopy: the effects of bloodstain age and the deposition environment

In this study, we investigated the potential of attenuated total reflection (ATR) Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy combined with advanced chemometrics for species identification of bloodstains similar to evidence obtained from real crime scenes. Two partial least squares-discriminant a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of legal medicine 2018-05, Vol.132 (3), p.667-674
Main Authors: Lin, Hancheng, Zhang, Yinming, Wang, Qi, Li, Bing, Fan, Shuanliang, Wang, Zhenyuan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Blood
Blood Stains
Chemometrics
Chickens
Crime
Discriminant Analysis
Dogs
Ducks
Environment
Forensic Medicine
Fourier transforms
Humans
Infrared reflection
Infrared spectroscopy
Least-Squares Analysis
Legal medicine
Mammals
Medical Law
Medicine & Public Health
Original Article
Principal Component Analysis
Rabbits
Rats
Species Specificity
Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared
Spectrum analysis
Time Factors
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Summary:In this study, we investigated the potential of attenuated total reflection (ATR) Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy combined with advanced chemometrics for species identification of bloodstains similar to evidence obtained from real crime scenes. Two partial least squares-discriminant analysis classification models (a human-mammal-domestic fowl trilateral model and a species-specific model) were established. The models demonstrated complete separation among the three classes (human, mammal, and domestic fowl) and distinguished six species (human, rat, rabbit, dog, chicken, and duck). Validation was subsequently conducted to evaluate the robustness of these two models, which resulted in 100 and 94.2% accuracy; even human bloodstains placed in an outdoor environment for up to 107 days were successfully identified. Additionally, all bloodstains were positively identified as blood using the squared Euclidean cosine method by comparing the spectra with those of non-blood substances that had a similar appearance or easily produced false positives. These results demonstrate that ATR-FTIR spectroscopy combined with chemometrics can be a powerful tool for species identification of bloodstains.
ISSN:0937-9827
1437-1596
DOI:10.1007/s00414-017-1634-2