[Post mortem diffusion of carbon monoxide to muscles and blood--preliminary examinations]

The purpose of the study was to determine whether the postmortem diffusion of carbon monoxide (CO) significantly affected the results of carboxyhemoglobin (COHb) and carboxymyoglobin (COMb) determinations. The musculocutaneous and muscular specimens collected from adult cadavers were used. The specimens were treated with CO for 24 h at room temperature. COHb and COMb were determined using gas chromatography. It was demonstrated that the skin substantially limited the diffusion of CO which slightly penetrated only the superficial layers of the muscle and did not change the blood level of COHb in the 4.5-cm layer of the muscle located underneath. The CO diffusion through the superficially charred and thermally coagulated muscle did not differ from that observed in the intact integuments. On the other hand, the membrane of the skin completely deprived of the adipose layer was not the barrier to moderate diffusion into the blood layer situated below. Thus, in charred corpses the results pf COHb and COMb determinations in the material collected under the layer of charred and coagulated tissues enable us to determine whether the victim was alive at the moment of the outbreak.