Catch me if you can — emission patterns of human bodies in relation to postmortem changes

  • The present study examines for the first time the emission patterns and olfactory signatures of 9 complete human corpses of different stages of decomposition. Air sampling was performed inside the body bags with solid sorbents and analysed by coupled gas chromatography-mass spectrometry after thermal desorption (TD-GC-MS). Furthermore, odour-related substances were detected by gas chromatography-olfactometry (GC-O). Sulfurous compounds (mainly dimethyl di- and trisulfide) were identified as most important to the odour perception. Around 350 individual organic substances were detected by TD-GC-MS, notably sulfurous and nitrogenous substances as well as branched alkanes, aldehydes, ketones, alcohols, carboxylic acids, carboxylic acid esters and ethers. A range of terpenes was detected for the first time in a characteristic emission pattern over all decomposition stages. Concentrations of the substances varied greatly, and no correlation between the emission patterns, the stage of decomposition and the cause of death could be found. While previous studies often analysed pig cadavers or only parts of human tissue, the present study shows the importance of analysing complete human corpses over a range of decomposition stages. Moreover, it is shown that using body bags as a kind of “emission test chamber” is a very promising approach, also because it is a realistic application considering the usual transport and store of a body before autopsy.

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Metadaten
Author:Alexandra SchieweckORCiDGND, Nicole Schulz, Jens AmendtORCiDGND, Christoph Gerhard BirngruberORCiDGND, Franziska HolzGND
URN:urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-867441
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-024-03194-3
ISSN:1437-1596
Parent Title (English):International Journal of Legal Medicine
Publisher:Springer
Place of publication:Berlin ; Heidelberg
Document Type:Article
Language:English
Date of Publication (online):2024/03/08
Date of first Publication:2024/03/08
Publishing Institution:Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg
Release Date:2024/09/18
Tag:Emissions; GC-MS; Human corpses; Olfactometry; Post-mortem interval (PMI); Volatile organic compounds
Volume:138
Issue:4
Page Number:18
First Page:1603
Last Page:1620
Institutes:Medizin
Dewey Decimal Classification:6 Technik, Medizin, angewandte Wissenschaften / 61 Medizin und Gesundheit / 610 Medizin und Gesundheit
Sammlungen:Universitätspublikationen
Licence (German):License LogoCreative Commons - CC BY - Namensnennung 4.0 International