Postmortem Changes in Skin Appendages of Domestic Dogs: A Preliminary Comparative Histological Study Between Body Regions, and Possible Forensic Implications.
- 1Laboratory of Animal Pathology and Veterinary Forensics, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, School of Health Sciences, University of Thessaly, 43100 Karditsa, Greece.
- 2Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, School of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 11527 Athens, Greece.
Abstract
This study describes postmortem histological changes in skin appendages of domestic dogs in the first seven days after death. The objective was to document the progression of autolytic change in the sweat glands, sebaceous glands, and hair follicles and to compare it between body regions and sides. Skin samples were collected bilaterally from the neck, thorax, abdomen, and thigh of nine dog carcasses (female, non-pedigree, short-haired, 5-10 years old, ~10 kg). The carcasses were kept at 10-12 °C in Karditsa, Greece, and sampled at 0, 4, 8, 12, 24, 48, 72, 96, 120, 144, and 168 h postmortem. Sections were stained with Hematoxylin and Eosin and Alcian Blue-PAS. The rate of change varied by structure, body region, and side. In this cohort, autolysis appeared earliest in the abdomen and on the dependent (left) side. The sweat glands and hair follicles reached the most advanced stage recorded by 48 h, whereas the sebaceous glands remained unchanged for 24 h, except in the dependent abdomen. The three structures changed over different periods, giving complementary timelines. These findings provide the first structured reference data on postmortem change in dog skin appendages, a baseline for early postmortem interval estimation and for recognizing antemortem lesions.
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BibTeX
@article{kalaitzi2026postmortem,
title = {{Postmortem Changes in Skin Appendages of Domestic Dogs: A Preliminary Comparative Histological Study Between Body Regions, and Possible Forensic Implications.}},
author = {Artemis Kalaitzi and Dimitrios Doukas and Georgios Ziagkas and Chara Spiliopoulou and Dimitrios Tontis},
journal = {Animals : an open access journal from MDPI},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.3390/ani16193030},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42882999},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Postmortem Changes in Skin Appendages of Domestic Dogs: A Preliminary Comparative Histological Study Between Body Regions, and Possible Forensic Implications.
AU - Artemis Kalaitzi
AU - Dimitrios Doukas
AU - Georgios Ziagkas
AU - Chara Spiliopoulou
AU - Dimitrios Tontis
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/26
JO - Animals : an open access journal from MDPI
DO - 10.3390/ani16193030
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42882999
AB - This study describes postmortem histological changes in skin appendages of domestic dogs in the first seven days after death. The objective was to document the progression of autolytic change in the sweat glands, sebaceous glands, and hair follicles and to compare it between body regions and sides. Skin samples were collected bilaterally from the neck, thorax, abdomen, and thigh of nine dog carcasses (female, non-pedigree, short-haired, 5-10 years old, ~10 kg). The carcasses were kept at 10-12 °C in Karditsa, Greece, and sampled at 0, 4, 8, 12, 24, 48, 72, 96, 120, 144, and 168 h postmortem. Sections were stained with Hematoxylin and Eosin and Alcian Blue-PAS. The rate of change varied by structure, body region, and side. In this cohort, autolysis appeared earliest in the abdomen and on the dependent (left) side. The sweat glands and hair follicles reached the most advanced stage recorded by 48 h, whereas the sebaceous glands remained unchanged for 24 h, except in the dependent abdomen. The three structures changed over different periods, giving complementary timelines. These findings provide the first structured reference data on postmortem change in dog skin appendages, a baseline for early postmortem interval estimation and for recognizing antemortem lesions.
SN - 2076-2615
ER -