Abstract: Objective FTIR(Fourier transform infrared) spectroscopy was applied to observe the process of postmortem degradation in rats’cardiac muscle and provided a new method for the estimation of post-mortem interval(PMI).Methods The rats were sacrificed by cervical dislocation and the bodies were kept in a controlled environmental chamber set at(20±2) ℃.The FTIR spectra was applied to measure the changes of different chemical group from rats’ left ventricle muscle at the different time point postmortem.Results There were not obvious changes for the main FTIR absorbance peaks.But the different FTIR absorbance at the wave-number(cm-1) indicated the three types: increase,decrease,stable.The various absorbance ratios al-so demonstrated the similar changes.Conclusion FTIR spectroscopy may be potentially used as an effec-tive method for estimating PMI in forensic practice using cardiac muscle tissue.

Key words: forensic pathology, myocardium, spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared, estimation of post-mortem interval, rats