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Characterization of bone diagenesis by histology in forensic contexts: a human taphonomic study

International Journal of Legal Medicine volume 132, pages 219–227 (2018)Cite this article

Abstract

The diagenesis of a bone in the postmortem period causes an identifiable deterioration in histology. This degradation is characterized by a collagenous alteration, which can be observed very early. In order to develop a method for determining a postmortem interval for medico-legal use, two ribs collected from six human bodies were studied prospectively over 2 years. Each bone was studied after staining with Sirius red to demonstrate the degradation of collagen as a function of time. This study demonstrated a time-based bone alteration characterized by the architectural degradation of the lamellar bone, without any microbial influence in this postmortem period. The staining was carried out by using Sirius red and correlated this alteration with a collagenic degradation by chemical hydrolysis owing to the affinity of this dye to the amino acids lysine, hydroxylysine, and arginine. Our work asserts that human bone samples that were studied in a controlled environment and analyzed for 24 months underwent a diagenetic trajectory whose main element was collagen hydrolysis.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to express our sincere appreciation to American Journal Experts, Guillaume Falgayrac and Claire Louria, for their technical and scientific assistance with the preparation of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut Médico-Légal de Paris, Université Paris Descartes Sorbonne Cité, 75000, Paris, France

    Yann Delannoy & Bertrand Ludes

  2. CHU de LILLE, 59000, Lille, France

    Yann Delannoy, Thomas Colard, Vadim Mesli, Valéry Hédouin & Guillaume Penel

  3. EA 7367 Forensic Taphonomy Unit - Lille Forensic Institute, Lille University, 59000, Lille, France

    Yann Delannoy, Thomas Colard, Vadim Mesli & Valéry Hédouin

  4. Littoral Côte d’Opale, EA 4490, PMOI, Physiopathologie des Maladies Osseuses inflammatoires, Lille University, 59000, Lille, France

    Yann Delannoy, Thomas Colard & Guillaume Penel

  5. Institut de Médecine Légale – CHRU de Lille, rue André Verhaeghe, 59037, Lille Cedex, France

    Yann Delannoy

  6. Laboratoire d’Histomorphométrie de Médecine Légale, Faculté de Médecine, 67000, Strasbourg, France

    Catherine Cannet

  7. CNRS UMR 5288, AMIS, Toulouse University, 31000, Toulouse, France

    Bertrand Ludes

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  1. Yann Delannoy
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Correspondence to Yann Delannoy.

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Delannoy, Y., Colard, T., Cannet, C. et al. Characterization of bone diagenesis by histology in forensic contexts: a human taphonomic study. Int J Legal Med 132, 219–227 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-017-1699-y

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