Abstract: Estimation of postmortem interval(PMI) is one of the problems that need to be solved for forensic examination of the dead body. Accurate estimation of PMI has great values to criminal investigation and trial. The levels of chemical components in human vitreous humor are changed with time after death, which can help estimate the PMI. The levels of certain chemical components, such as potassium, magne- sium, ammonia, urea, creatinine, uric acid, hypoxanthine, lactic acid and so on, in human vitreous humor will gradually increase with time after death, while others such as calcium, sodium, enzymes, glucose, vi- tamin C and so on will decrease. The updates and advances in those studies were reviewed in this article.

Key words: forensic pathology, vitreous humor, review [publication type], chemistry, estimation of the postmortem interval