LABANOF, Laboratorio di Antropologia e Odontologia Forense, Sezione di Medicina Legale, Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche per la Salute, Università degli Studi di Milano, V. Mangiagalli 37, Milan, Italy.
Int J Legal Med. 2013 Sep;127(5):975-9. doi: 10.1007/s00414-013-0817-8. Epub 2013 Jan 17.
Finding spermatozoa is of the utmost importance in judicial cases involving both the living and the dead; however, most of literature actually deals with inner genitalia and does not take into consideration the chance of external deposition of semen on skin, which is not rare. In addition, the most advanced microscopic technologies such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM) have not been thoroughly investigated within this specific field of research. This study aims at applying SEM analysis to samples of decomposed skin in order to test its potential in detecting spermatozoa particularly in decomposed cadavers. A sample of skin was obtained at autopsy and divided into two thin strips; one of the samples was used as a negative control. Semen was then taken from a "donor" (with a normal spermiogram) and was spread onto the other skin sample. Every 3 days for the first 15 days (for a total of six samples), a standard slide was prepared from swabs on the treated and control skin and analyzed by standard light microscopy. In addition, every 7 days up to 91 days (3 months circa), a skin sample was taken from the positive and negative control and examined by SEM for a total of 14 samples. Results show that after 12 days, light microscopy failed in detecting spermatozoa, whereas they were still visible up to 84 days by SEM analysis. This study therefore suggests the persistence of sperm structures in time and in decomposing material as well as the possible application of SEM technology to decomposed skin in order to detect semen.
在涉及生死的司法案件中，找到精子至关重要；然而，大多数文献实际上涉及内生殖器，并没有考虑到精液在皮肤上外部沉积的可能性，这种情况并不少见。此外，最先进的显微镜技术，如扫描电子显微镜（SEM），在这一特定研究领域尚未得到彻底研究。本研究旨在将 SEM 分析应用于分解皮肤样本，以测试其在检测精子方面的潜力，特别是在分解尸体中。从尸检中获得一块皮肤样本，并将其分为两条细条；其中一条样本用作阴性对照。然后从“供体”（正常精子图）中取出精液，并将其涂在另一个皮肤样本上。在最初的 15 天内，每 3 天（共 6 个样本），从处理过的和对照皮肤的拭子上制备标准载玻片，并通过标准光镜进行分析。此外，在 91 天（约 3 个月）内，每隔 7 天从阳性和阴性对照中取出一块皮肤样本，并通过 SEM 进行检查，共进行了 14 个样本。结果表明，12 天后，光镜无法检测到精子，而通过 SEM 分析，精子仍可在 84 天内可见。因此，本研究表明精子结构在时间和分解物中具有持久性，并且 SEM 技术可应用于分解皮肤以检测精液。
