Chemistry & Crime: The Science Behind Solving CasesMain MenuWelcome!AuthorsHistory & Evolution of Forensic ScienceAn Introduction to Modern Forensic Scienceby Alyssa AdranedaForensic ToxicologyFingerprintingGunpowder ResidueBlood & DNAPathologyJane Lah689ef3bc5e8206f2e55474a83c1a71535b012294
Autopsy Room
1media/CHS-44303_thumb.jpg2023-10-20T23:04:20-07:00Jane Lah689ef3bc5e8206f2e55474a83c1a71535b012294416061https://digitallibrary.usc.edu/asset-management/2A3BF1QWQWQ?FR_=1&W=1048&H=1092plain2023-10-20T23:04:20-07:00Staff member in the Autopsy Room off Laboratory 580, Los AngelesPublic Domain. Please credit bot1100 Mission Road (roadway), CalCHS-44303.tiffUSC Libraries Special CollectionPublic Domain. Please credit both âUniversity of Southern California. Librariesâ and âCalifornia Historical Societyâ asPhotograph of a staff member in the Autopsy Room off Laboratory 580, Los Angeles County General Hospital, ca.1925. A man can be seen standing to the left of a table with a large drain in the center of it. A sink can be seen along the wall at right, while part of the walls are composed of brick. A door leads to another room at center, while four closed compartments can be seen to the left of the door. Photoprint reads: "The Los Angeles County General Hospital, 1100 Mission Road, Los Angeles, California".Autopsy (lcsh), Hospitals (lcsh), Los Angeles -- ArchitectureCalifornia Historical Society (cCHS-44303.tiffJane Lah689ef3bc5e8206f2e55474a83c1a71535b012294
Pathology Pathology (from the Greek word pathología, meaning the study of suffering) refers to the specialty of medical science concerned with the cause, development, structural/functional changes, and natural history associated with diseases.
Rigor mortis is possibly one of the most well known of the changes that occur in the human body after death. It describes the process that causes the muscles in the body to stiffen resulting in rigidity due to a range of chemical changes in the muscle structure. Muscle fibers rely on the conversion of ATP to ADP. After death, when breathing stops, the intracellular pH decreases due to the production of lactic and pyruvic acid (Rattenbury, 2018). The anaerobic glycolysis of glycogen in the muscles causes glycogen depletion and thus reduced ATP concentrations.
Funkhouser, W.K. (2012). Pathology: The Clinical Description of Human Disease. Molecular Pathology. 2009:197–207. doi: 10.1016/B978-0-12-374419-7.00011-1.