The Study of Natural Saponification Processes in Preservation of Human Corpses

Abstract

The natural course of evolution of the human body after death includes autolysis, putrefaction and skeletonization. Under specific environmental conditions, the body may bypass this natural path, leading to preservation, such as saponification (adipocere), lignification, mummification or refrigeration, comprising the entire body or being limited only to some parts of it. All these preservation processes have a chemical substrate, and the identification of their components may be useful in many forensic circumstances, such as clandestine activity and identification of victims in mass disasters, when pentanoic, butanoic, hexanoic acid, butanoic acid-butyl ester, hexanoic acid-ethyl ester, indole, dimethyl disulphide may be used to train human remains detection dogs. The authors present the case of a 73 years old woman who was found dead in a sewage collection basin 4 months after her disappearance in July. The autopsy revealed a mixture of cadaveric processes, some parts being disintegrated, with putrefaction and skeletonization, while other parts were preserved by saponification: areas of adipocere were found on the neck, thorax and the anterior part of the abdomen. In some instances the saponification of the corpses makes identification possible and preserves violence marks, but the combination with putrefaction burdens these goals. The identification in this case was possible using the teeth formula, keeping in mind that tooth and bones are the most resistant to putrefaction. Even though saponification makes difficult the estimation of postmortem interval, investigations of its chemical composition may be useful in this direction, as the epicoprostanol-cholesterol ratio proved to increase with the increasing of postmortem interval.

Formulation of Natural, Antiseptic Liquid from Jujube Leaf Extract for Islamic Dead Body Bathing Procedures

“…The phytochemical screening of raw material and leaf extract of Jujube showed that both the raw material and the extract contained alkaloid, flavonoids, tannins, polyphenols, and saponins. This result had similarities with the data produced by Jebur et al and Asgarpanah et al [2,3]. Based on these data, the infudation method was known to be able to extract compounds from the raw material optimally.…”

“…Death is a state of missing a sign of life with a series of changes in the structure of the SIRES human body that are affected by decay. The decaying process was driven by at least two mechanism, namely autolysis, and putrefaction [1,2]. One of the causes of decay or decomposition is aerobic and anaerobic microorganisms that can decompose human tissues [3,4].…”