Identification of Skin Electrical Injury Using Infrared Imaging: A Possible Complementary Tool for Histological Examination

Abstract

In forensic practice, determination of electrocution as a cause of death usually depends on the conventional histological examination of electrical mark in the body skin, but the limitation of this method includes subjective bias by different forensic pathologists, especially for identifying suspicious electrical mark. The aim of our work is to introduce Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy in combination with chemometrics as a complementary tool for providing an relatively objective diagnosis. The results of principle component analysis (PCA) showed that there were significant differences of protein structural profile between electrical mark and normal skin in terms of α-helix, antiparallel β-sheet and β-sheet content. Then a partial least square (PLS) model was established based on this spectral dataset and used to discriminate electrical mark from normal skin areas in independent tissue sections as revealed by color-coded digital maps, making the visualization of electrical injury more intuitively. Our pilot study demonstrates the potential of FTIR spectroscopy as a complementary tool for diagnosis of electrical mark.

Forensic tools for the diagnosis of electrocution death: Case study and literature review

“…In fact, this analysis was applied to characterise protein conformations of the electrical mark on the human skin and demonstrated differences of protein structural profile between the electrical mark and normal skin. 12 There are reported studies of histological investigations carried out to define any morphological signs due to the flow of electric current, and there have been some experimental studies on animal samples about the damage to the cells of the nervous system (i.e. Purkinje cell, Hippocampal cells), 13,14 the electric current effect was studied especially on the heart.…”

“…In fact, this analysis was applied to characterise protein conformations of the electrical mark on the human skin and demonstrated differences of protein structural profile between the electrical mark and normal skin. 12…”