| Title: | Decomposing Human Blood: Canine Detection Odor Signature and Volatile Organic Compounds |
| Author(s): | Rendine M; Fiore C; Bertozzi G; De Carlo D; Filetti V; Fortarezza P; Riezzo I; |
| Address: | "Section of Legal Medicine, Azienda Ospedaliero - Universitaria 'Ospedali Riuniti' of Foggia, Ospedale Colonnello D'Avanzo, Viale degli Aviatori 1, 71100, Foggia, Italy. Section of Forensic Toxicology, Ospedale G. Tatarella, Via Trinitapoli, 71042, Cerignola (FG), Italy. Anatomy and Histology, Department of Biomedical Sciences and Biotechnologies, University of Catania, Via Santa Sofia 78, 95123, Catania, Sicily, Italy" |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1556-4029 (Electronic) 0022-1198 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "The admissibility of human 'odor mortis' discrimination in courts depends on the lack of comprehension of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) during the human decay process and of the lack in standardized procedures in training cadaver dogs. Blood was collected from four young people who died from traffic accidents and analyzed using HS-SPME/GC-MS at different decompositional stages. Two dogs, professionally trained, were tested to exactly locate blood samples, for each time point of the experiment. We found a long list of VOCs which varied from fresh to decomposed blood samples, showing differences in specific compounds. Dog performance showed a positive predictive value between 98.96% and 100% for DOG A, and between 99.47% and 100% for DOG B. Our findings demonstrated that decomposing human blood is a good source of VOCs and a good target for canine training" |
| Keywords: | Adult Animals *Blood Chemical Analysis Dogs/*physiology Female Forensic Sciences Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry Humans Male *Odorants *Postmortem Changes Predictive Value of Tests Smell/*physiology Solid Phase Microextraction Volatile Organic Compou; |
| Notes: | "MedlineRendine, Marcello Fiore, Carmela Bertozzi, Giuseppe De Carlo, Dania Filetti, Vera Fortarezza, Palmira Riezzo, Irene eng 2018/09/04 J Forensic Sci. 2019 Mar; 64(2):587-592. doi: 10.1111/1556-4029.13901. Epub 2018 Sep 3" |
