Post-mortem interval estimation of human skeletal remains by micro-computed tomography, mid-infrared microscopic imaging and energy dispersive X-ray mapping

Longato, Stefano; Wöss, Claudia; Hatzer-Grubwieser, Petra; Bauer, Carl-Otto; Parson, Walther; Unterberger, Seraphin Hubert; Kühn, Volker; Nadin, Pemberger; Pallua, A; Recheis, Wolfgang; Lackner, Reinhard; Stalder, Roland; Pallua, Johannes

doi:10.1039/c4ay02943g

Cited by 44 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 48 publications

(53 reference statements)

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“…Furthermore, forensic bone samples exhibit more organic bands in comparison to archaeological ones. This could be seen by a reduction of carbohydrates at 1185 cm -1 (only seen after magnification in Fig 1I, data not shown), phospholipids, proteins, nucleic acid sugars, complex carbohydrates as well as amorphous or fully hydrated sugars at 3000 cm -1 to 2800 cm -1 (Fig 1II) in archaeological bone material as described previously [41] [77] [23]. Fig 1C shows Raman spectra from the aforementioned bone samples, and displays a similar pattern to that described above.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 70%

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Assessing various Infrared (IR) microscopic imaging techniques for post-mortem interval evaluation of human skeletal remains

et al. 2017

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Due to the influence of many environmental processes, a precise determination of the post-mortem interval (PMI) of skeletal remains is known to be very complicated. Although methods for the investigation of the PMI exist, there still remains much room for improvement. In this study the applicability of infrared (IR) microscopic imaging techniques such as reflection-, ATR- and Raman- microscopic imaging for the estimation of the PMI of human skeletal remains was tested. PMI specific features were identified and visualized by overlaying IR imaging data with morphological tissue structures obtained using light microscopy to differentiate between forensic and archaeological bone samples. ATR and reflection spectra revealed that a more prominent peak at 1042 cm-1 (an indicator for bone mineralization) was observable in archeological bone material when compared with forensic samples. Moreover, in the case of the archaeological bone material, a reduction in the levels of phospholipids, proteins, nucleic acid sugars, complex carbohydrates as well as amorphous or fully hydrated sugars was detectable at (reciprocal wavelengths/energies) between 3000 cm-1 to 2800 cm-1. Raman spectra illustrated a similar picture with less ν2PO43−at 450 cm-1 and ν4PO43− from 590 cm-1 to 584 cm-1, amide III at 1272 cm-1 and protein CH2 deformation at 1446 cm-1 in archeological bone material/samples/sources. A semi-quantitative determination of various distributions of biomolecules by chemi-maps of reflection- and ATR- methods revealed that there were less carbohydrates and complex carbohydrates as well as amorphous or fully hydrated sugars in archaeological samples compared with forensic bone samples. Raman- microscopic imaging data showed a reduction in B-type carbonate and protein α-helices after a PMI of 3 years. The calculated mineral content ratio and the organic to mineral ratio displayed that the mineral content ratio increases, while the organic to mineral ratio decreases with time. Cluster-analyses of data from Raman microscopic imaging reconstructed histo-anatomical features in comparison to the light microscopic image and finally, by application of principal component analyses (PCA), it was possible to see a clear distinction between forensic and archaeological bone samples. Hence, the spectral characterization of inorganic and organic compounds by the afore mentioned techniques, followed by analyses such as multivariate imaging analysis (MIAs) and principal component analyses (PCA), appear to be suitable for the post mortem interval (PMI) estimation of human skeletal remains.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 70%

“…All examined samples were anonymized before the authors had access to the specimens. Anthropological properties and place of discovery of all measured human skeletal remains are summarized in Table 1 and additionally described elsewhere [41, 71, 72]. Detailed information concerning the archaeological bone samples is given in Table 2.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing various Infrared (IR) microscopic imaging techniques for post-mortem interval evaluation of human skeletal remains

et al. 2017

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“…In more recent years, researchers in other countries have also taken advantage of novel ways for estimating time since death, including GC-MS/MS [ 73 , 102 , 103 ], micro-computed tomography, mid-infrared microscopic imaging, energy dispersive X-ray mapping [ 104 ], LC–MSMS [ 105 ], UPLC/Q-TOF MS and SELDI-TOF-MS [ 106 , 107 ]. While these methods are very convenient and efficient for use in the estimation of PMI, but the results obtained are still not precise enough for forensic practice.…”

Section: Other Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Research progress in the estimation of the postmortem interval by Chinese forensic scholars

Wang

Zhang

et al. 2016

Forensic Sciences Research

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The determination of time since death or the postmortem interval (PMI) is one of the most important and frequently asked questions in forensic medicine. Medicolegal scholars and forensic pathologists around the world have studied the estimation of PMI extensively in the past, and many novel methods and advanced technologies have now been applied in the field. For several centuries, Chinese forensic examiners have also worked on the estimation of the PMI, and there are a large number of excellent studies published in Chinese rather than in English, and these are not easily accessible or known internationally. Therefore we have conducted a review of relevant studies published by Chinese forensic scholars in the last few decades. The scope of this review is to provide a concise summary of the current progress in the estimation of PMI by Chinese forensic researchers using molecular biology, spectroscopic technology, entomological methods, energy changes, thanatochemistry and other methods.

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“…with high sensitivity [86][87][88]. The relatively low Rayleigh scattering losses in the MIR region also benefit tomography and imaging applications offering deeper penetration [22,24,89,90]. at high spatial resolution (as is desirable for analysing small scale biological tissue, for example) can only be performed using bright MIR broadband sources such as those based on synchrotrons whose brightness exceeds that of a globar by 2-3 orders of magnitude [25].…”

Section: Applications Of Broadband Mir Sourcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mid-infrared supercontinuum generation in chalcogenides

Yu¹,

Gai²,

Wang³

et al. 2013

Opt. Mater. Express

165

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Davies B, "Experimental demonstration of linearly polarized 2-10 μm supercontinuum generation in a chalcogenide rib waveguide", Optics Letters 41, 5(2016) 958-961. Luther-Davies B, "High brightness 2.2-12 μm mid-infrared supercontinuum generation in a nontoxic chalcogenide step-index fiber", Journal of the American Ceramic Society, 99, 8 (2016) 2565-2568. 3.Madden S, "High Q factor chalcogenide ring resonators for cavityenhanced MIR spectroscopic sensing", Optics Express 23, 15 (2015)

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Post-mortem interval estimation of human skeletal remains by micro-computed tomography, mid-infrared microscopic imaging and energy dispersive X-ray mapping

Abstract: In this study different state-of-the-art visualization methods were evaluated to study human skeletal remains for the determination of the post-mortem interval (PMI).

Cited by 44 publications

References 48 publications

Assessing various Infrared (IR) microscopic imaging techniques for post-mortem interval evaluation of human skeletal remains

Assessing various Infrared (IR) microscopic imaging techniques for post-mortem interval evaluation of human skeletal remains

Research progress in the estimation of the postmortem interval by Chinese forensic scholars

Mid-infrared supercontinuum generation in chalcogenides

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