Walcher in 1936 pointed out the importance of studying a lesion microscopically in order to distinguish between ante-mortem and post-mortem injuries. According to him and to many other authors (Raekallio, 1984; Ojala et al., 1969; Fatteh, 1966) leucocytic reaction is the earliest histological sign of inflammation, and it is the most reliable sign of the vitality of wounds. The pavementation (also known as margination) of the vascular endothelium of white blood cells, and the beginning of their extravasation, may be seen during the first hour (Ojala et al., 1969), 6 hours (Malik, 1970), 8 hours (Fatteh, 1966) or 8–16 hours (Raekallio, 1964) after the injury.
Profuse bleeding and fibrin deposition are no longer regarded as necessarily signs of vitality of wounds. (Shapiro and Robertson, 1962; Laiho, 1967), yet the behaviour of white blood cells in post-mortem wounds remains unknown.
It was therefore decided to study the effects of chemotactic materials injected intradermally and in the anterior abdominal wall in dead rats. The experimental findings are presented, along with discussion, and a review of the literature.
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