Features of Hair Research for Biological and Forensic Chemical Research

Abstract

The subject of the study is human hair. The authors consider the issues of hair research for biological and forensic chemical research. Currently, despite the large number of studies conducted by forensic medical experts and clinicians, there is no complete, targeted program for the study of hair for elemental composition, psychoactive and toxic substances, enzyme system, in which methods of hair research would be announced not only for forensic, but also for clinical, environmental practice. Forensic doctors have developed methods and techniques for conducting such studies. However, there are no such developments for clinicians, toxicologists. Removal and examination of hair to study the morphological structure is carried out without following the rules (length, description of the structure, indication of magnification of the microscope, characteristics of inclusions and others). The novelty of the study lies in the fact that the lack of widely available data on the characteristics of hair; by determining the content of foreign substances introduced into the body, gives rise to contradictory and even erroneous data. A special contribution of the authors to the study of hair is the proposed algorithm for morphological examination of their elements, which includes such sections as hair removal, macroscopic examination and microscopic examination. The described lesions in the form of inclusions of "black color", "flask-like formations" and "thickening of the core" are characteristic of normal hair and are not signs of exposure to any toxicant. The morphological shape of some hair indicates the effect on the hair of a toxic agent that affected their structure, as a result of which their loss occurred. The damaging factor acts on the desmosomes of the cuticle of the rod and the vaginal membranes of the hair and is exfoliated from its own hair bed. It was determined that the hair carries information about the entry of an intoxicant into the body in the phase of active growth – anagen.