Re-oxygenation of post-mortem lividity by passive diffusion through the skin at low temperature

Post-mortem hypostasis develops due to passive settling of the blood under the effect of gravity after death. Due to consumption of oxygen in the tissues by residual cellular activity after the circulation has stopped, lividity is composed of deoxygenated blood. It has been previously shown that coo...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Forensic science, medicine, and pathology medicine, and pathology, 2011-12, Vol.7 (4), p.333-335
Main Authors: Watchman, Hannah, Walker, G. Stewart, Randeberg, Lise L., Langlois, Neil E. I.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Cold Temperature
Criminology and Criminal Justice
Forensic Medicine
Forensic Pathology
Glycosylated hemoglobin
Hemoglobins - chemistry
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Nitrogen - administration & dosage
Original Article
Oxygen - administration & dosage
Oxygen - blood
Oxyhemoglobins - chemistry
Pathology
Postmortem Changes
Rats
Rats, Sprague-Dawley
Skin
Skin - metabolism
Spectrophotometry
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Post-mortem hypostasis develops due to passive settling of the blood under the effect of gravity after death. Due to consumption of oxygen in the tissues by residual cellular activity after the circulation has stopped, lividity is composed of deoxygenated blood. It has been previously shown that cooling of a body causes lividity to oxygenate, changing from a dark red/blue to a pink/red color, due to hemoglobin’s increased affinity for oxygen at low temperature. This study has confirmed that this occurs by passive diffusion through the skin, but that this can only occur within a limited time frame. The reasons for this process and its potential forensic application require further investigation.
ISSN:1547-769X
1556-2891
DOI:10.1007/s12024-011-9244-7