Adipocere Formation: Factors and Forensic Significance

Adipocere Formation Over Time

On Earth, over time, adipocere undergoes certain changes that allow us to distinguish between recent (or young) adipocere and old adipocere. Recent adipocere may show little uniformity and thickness on portions of foreign tissues (remains of muscles, tendons, or ligaments). Old adipocere is hard, dry, and somewhat brittle; its structure is more homogeneous.

Conditions for Saponification

Environmental Conditions

Circumstances that favor adipocere formation include:

1. When the corpse has been submerged in water or in an area of low current.
2. When the corpse has been buried in damp clay soil.
3. When many bodies have been buried in contact with each other: the bodies in the lower layers tend to saponify to a greater or lesser degree, while the process is minimal in the bodies of the upper layers.

Individual Conditions

1. Age: Saponification is more common in young children, where the amount of subcutaneous fat is proportionally greater than in adults.
2. Gender: Adipocere formation is more common in female bodies.
3. Obesity: The bodies of obese individuals are more likely to saponify if environmental conditions are favorable, while it rarely occurs in the bodies of thin individuals.
4. Certain Pathological Conditions: Alcoholism and intoxication can lead to conditions that promote fatty degeneration.

The key conditions for saponification are moisture and a barrier to air access, while from the standpoint of the individual, the primary factor is the existence of fat in the body.

Medicolegal Interest

When the saponification process has been comprehensive, the bodies are preserved for a long time, and it may be possible to identify injuries long after they were produced. However, several factors should be considered:

1. The skin is not truly preserved in the process of saponification; what is actually observed is the imprint left by the cellular tissue.
2. Adipocere affects only the surface of the body and not the viscera, so only surface traces of injuries are typically preserved.
3. It is rare for saponified bodies to be absolutely intact; often, significant portions of the body that have undergone common decomposition are missing.
4. The putrefaction of the corpse in saponification is never as complete and prolonged as in mummification.