A preliminary investigation into postmortem changes in skinfold impedance during the early postmortem period in rats.

A highly accurate and reproducible technique was used to measure the electrical impedance (1 kHz) of a lateral abdominal skinfold, in each of eight rat cadavers stored at 9.0 +/- 0.7 degrees C, during the early postmortem period. Impedance increased exponentially between 1 and 120 h post mortem. Whether or not similar changes occur during the human postmortem period, and their potential value as a means of objective estimation of postmortem interval (PMI), remains to be established.