[Postmortem permeation of myoglobin into the blood]

Myoglobin in heart and femoral blood of human cadavers and of experimentally killed dogs was examined immunologically. Myoglobin was found in blood of most human cadavers more or less without relation to sudden or delayed death. In general, more myoglobin was found in the heart blood than in the femoral blood of cadavers within 1 day after death. The appearance of myoglobin in blood seemed to be related to the length between death and blood taking. In experimentally killed dogs, myoglobin was found in heart blood already 1-2 h and in femoral blood 6-8 h after death. These results reveal that postmortem myoglobin permeation into the blood occurs with in 1-8 h after death and suggest that by examination of myoglobin in blood stains a differentiation between ante- and postmortem blood is highly possible.