Objective: FTIR (Fourier transform infrared) spectroscopy was applied to observe the process of postmortem degradation in rats' cardiac muscle and provided a new method for the estimation of post-mortem interval (PMI).
Methods: The rats were sacrificed by cervical dislocation and the bodies were kept in a controlled environmental chamber set at (20 +/- 2) degrees C. The FTIR spectra was applied to measure the changes of different chemical group from rats' left ventricle muscle at the different time point postmortem.
Results: There were not obvious changes for the main FTIR absorbance peaks. But the different FTIR absorbance at the wave-number (cm(-1)) indicated the three types: increase, decrease, stable. The various absorbance ratios also demonstrated the similar changes.
Conclusion: FTIR spectroscopy may be potentially used as an effective method for estimating PMI in forensic practice using cardiac muscle tissue.