The use of immunochromatographic rapid test for soft tissue remains identification in order to distinguish between human and non-human origin

- The immunochromatographic rapid test (IRT) may be considered a simple tool to distinguish between human and non-human remains.
- The IRT can be used directly at the site of discovery.
- The presented method is even applicable to decomposed tissue in contrast to microscopic analysis, which may be not valid.
- The IRT method requires less effort for analysis and lower costs compared to mtDNA-based identification.

Clear identification of soft tissue remains as being of non-human origin may be visually difficult in some cases e.g. due to decomposition. Thus, an additional examination is required. The use of an immunochromatographic rapid tests (IRT) device can be an easy solution with the additional advantage to be used directly at the site of discovery. The use of these test devices for detecting human blood at crime scenes is a common method. However, the IRT is specific not only for blood but also for differentiation between human and non-human soft tissue remains. In the following this method is discussed and validated by means of two forensic cases and several samples of various animals.