Citation

Kibayashi K, Hamada K, Honjyo K, Tsunenari S. Forensic Sci. Int. 1993; 61(2-3): 111-117.

Affiliation

Department of Forensic Medicine, Kumamoto University School of Medicine, Japan.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1993, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

8307520

Abstract

In a differential study to distinguish bruises from putrefactive discoloration, glycophorin A, a component of the erythrocyte membrane, was extracted from discolored skins and detected by immunological methods utilizing an anti-glycophorin A serum. Skin samples of 18 bruises, 8 postmortem hypostasises and 7 putrefactive discolorations were removed from 27 bodies in which postmortem intervals ranged from 4 h to 2.5 months. In 13 out of the 18 bruises (72.2%), glycophorin A was detected by the immunological methods. It was noted that glycophorin A was detectable even in a severely putrefied body 10 days after death. In contrast, no glycophorin A was detected in any of the postmortem lividities or the putrefactive discolorations. These results suggest that the absence of glycophorin A does not always indicate a skin discoloration of postmortem origin, but a positive glycophorin A reaction does indicate a skin discoloration due to bruise.

Language: en