Patterns of Post-Mortem Electrical Excitability of Skeletal Muscle

Popwassilew and Palm (1960) studied the contraction patterns of electrically stimulated muscles and correlated them with hours since death.

Muscle groups studies:

(1) orbicularis oculi

(2) orbicularis oris

(3) hand

Observations:

(1) shortly after death, muscle contraction is strong and involves muscles distant from the electrodes

(2) with increase in time since death, the strength of contraction decreases and involves only those muscles nearer the electrodes

Muscle Groups	Grade 1 (+++)	Grade 2 (++)	Grade 3 (+)
orbicularis oculi	contraction of the whole mimic muscles	contraction of the eyelids	fibrillar twitching
orbicularis oris	contraction of the orbicularis oris, neck muscles and eyelids	contraction of orbicularis oris	fibrillar twitching
hand	contraction of the whole arm	contraction of the hand and forearm	fibrillar twitching

Mean Time	Grade 1 (+++)	Grade 2 (++)	Grade 3 (+)
orbicularis oculi	1.25 hours	2.25 hours	4.25 hours
orbicularis oris	1 hour	1.75 hours	3.75 hours
hand	0.75 hours	1.25 hours	3.25 hours

Range of Times	Grade 1 (+++)	Grade 2 (++)	Grade 3 (+)
orbicularis oculi	0 - 2.5 hours	1 - 5 hours	2 - 8 hours
orbicularis oris	0 - 2.5 hours	1 - 5 hours	2 - 6 hours
hand	0 - 2.5 hours	1 - 4 hours	1 - 5.5 hours

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