Effect of environmental temperature on the course of spontaneous postmortem pupillary changes (studies of the rabbit eye)
Faller-Marquardt, M.; Pollak, S.
Beitrage Zur Gerichtlichen Medizin 50: 325-332
1992
ISSN/ISBN: 0067-5016 PMID: 1489345 Document Number: 393009
The diameter of the pupils was measured in the bodies of rabbits under different ambient temperatures (2-4 degrees C, 10-12 degrees C, 18-20 degrees C, 28-30 degrees C). It was found that the pupils changed in three phases: Initial miosis, which set in within minutes after death, was followed by a mydriatic phase, which lasted several hours and was approximately synchronous with the post-mortem rigidity of the skeletal muscles. In the third phase the pupils slowly contracted in the course of several days. The higher the ambient temperature, the more marked was the dilatation of the pupils in the second phase. In contrast to this the reaction of the pupils was characterized by less pronounced changes in size and a longer duration of secondary mydriasis, when temperatures were low.