The new method allows to determine the exact time of death, even after 10 days – BBC News

The new method, developed by a group of researchers from the University of Salzburg, will help determine the exact time of death of the person, even if it occurred 10 days ago.

The methods used by criminologists and forensic experts today allow us to determine the time of death (CSN ) only in the case after it has passed for about 36 hours (about a half day), or rather, from the moment when the temperature reaches a corpse to ambient temperature.

Initial results showed that this method can be used to assess the loss of life, despite the fact that the experiments were carried out until only the remains of animals.

Austrian researchers observed the degradation of proteins and enzymes in the muscles of dead pigs and based on the information developed a new way to assess the CSN, which may It is used even in the case since death passed 240 hours (10 days).

In the study it was found that some proteins, for example, tropomyosin and actinin showed no signs of degradation even after 240 hours after death.

“It is likely that all the muscle proteins are subject to change at any given time after death, so it is possible that in the future we will be able to count the time of death, even after longer periods of time” – says Peter Steinbacher (Peter Steinbacher), lead author of the study.

The specific breakdown products of proteins appear at a certain time after death. The study of the time of their emergence and allowing researchers to calculate the CSN.

Now, scientists have begun to analyze human tissue. Already studied 60 samples were obtained very encouraging results.

“It turned out that we can detect in human muscle tissue the same changes and breakdown products that were observed during experiments on pigs, – says Steinbacher. – Sam analysis of muscle tissue in the post-mortem examination is a new approach, but it has already seen a number of benefits.

First, muscle tissue – the most common tissue of the human body, which means that the easiest way to take a sample of it of it. Second, the proteins of muscle tissue are well known. And thirdly, this method is simple and the experts to determine the time of death will leave no more than a day “.

However, before this method will be used Forensics, will still be a lot of time. At least the art should identify those factors that may cause errors in the measurements.