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Chemistry & Crime: The Science Behind Solving Cases

Pathology

Definitions

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.

Postmortem Timeline

Chemistry

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.

Resources

DiMaio’s Forensic Pathology (3rd ed.).
https://uosc.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01USC_INST/hs9vaa/alma991043638611403731

Wrongful Convictions and Forensic Science Errors: Case Studies and Root Causes (1st ed., Vol. 1).
https://uosc.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01USC_INST/hs9vaa/alma991043817047903731

Peer-Reviewed Scholarly Articles

Fatal gastric volvulus: forensic pathology considerations and postmortem CT findings.
https://uosc.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01USC_INST/273cgt/cdi_proquest_miscellaneous_2813560764

References

Rattenbury, A.E. (2018). Forensic Ecogenomics

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.

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Postmortem Timeline
Autopsy Room Photograph 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".