Biochemical diagnosis of the intravital origin of skin wounds.

The performance of a spectrophotometric and a spectrofluorimetric method in the determination of histamine and serotonin in skin samples was compared. The spectrophotometric method was found to be superior in terms of reproducibility and sample stability, so it was chosen for subsequent use. An overall 30 rabbits were wounded at different times prior to and after death and the histamine and serotonin concentrations in the wounds were compared to those of control specimens. Vital wounds were found to result in increased concentrations of the amines. The spectrophotometric method was also applied to human skin samples from 12 corpses showing body signs of violence.