Top

Published in:

Open Access 04-06-2022 | Original Article

Holiday trip to Norway — a stable isotope project on hair strands of individuals of a travel group from Bavaria

Authors: Christine Lehn, Annika Hameder, Matthias Graw

Published in: International Journal of Legal Medicine | Issue 1/2023

Abstract

Hair strands were taken from individuals of a travel group from Bavaria that stayed on the Lofoten Islands/Norway for 3 weeks. By means of serial stable isotope analyses of carbon, nitrogen, sulphur and hydrogen along the hair strands, food-specific changes during travel could be detected. The higher consumption of marine fish led to significant changes of the stable isotope values of nitrogen, sulphur and hydrogen. The highest differences for the values were found in the most proximal part of hair strands which were taken shortly after the trip. The basic values for the isotope distribution of the elements in the hair also indicate specific diets of some individuals that could be confirmed upon request.

Chesson LA, Tipple BJ, Youmans LV, et al (2018) Forensic identification of human skeletal remains using isotopes: A brief history of applications from archaeological dig sites to modern crime scenes. In: Latham K, Bartelink EJ, Finnegan M (eds) New perspectives in forensic human skeletal identification. Elsevier, London, UK pp 157–173

Lehn C, Rossmann A, Graw M (2015) Provenancing of unidentified corpses by stable isotope techniques–presentation of case studies. Sci Justice 55(1):72–88CrossRef

Meier-Augenstein W, Fraser I (2008) Forensic isotope analysis leads to identification of a mutilated murder victim. Sci Justice 48(3):153–159CrossRef

Lehn C, Graw M (2014) Stabilisotopenanalysen an Körpergeweben von unbekannten Personen. Rechtsmedizin 24(2):129–143CrossRef

Lehn C, Graw M (2016) Identifizierung einer skelettierten “Kofferleiche”aus Berlin. Rechtsmedizin 26(5):429–435CrossRef

Lehn C, Kalbhenn EM, Rossmann A et al (2019) Revealing details of stays abroad by sequential stable isotope analyses along human hair strands. Int J Legal Med 133(3):935–947CrossRef

Lehn C, Lihl C, Roßmann A (2015) Change of geographical location from Germany (Bavaria) to USA (Arizona) and its effect on H-C–N–S stable isotopes in human hair. Isot Environ Health Stud 51(1):68–79CrossRef

Huelsemann F, Flenker U, Koehler K et al (2009) Effect of a controlled dietary change on carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios of human hair. Rapid Commun Mass Spectrom 23(16):2448–2454CrossRef

LeBeau MA, Montgomery MA, Brewer JD (2011) The role of variations in growth rate and sample collection on interpreting results of segmental analyses of hair. Forensic Sci Int 210(1–3):110–116CrossRef

10.

Coplen TB (2011) Guidelines and recommended terms for expression of stable-isotope-ratio and gas-ratio measurement results. Rapid Commun Mass Spectrom 25(17):2538–2560CrossRef

11.

Sieper HP, Kupka HJ, Williams T et al (2006) A measuring system for the fast simultaneous isotope ratio and elemental analysis of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen and sulfur in food commodities and other biological material. Rapid Commun Mass Spectrom 20(17):2521–2527CrossRef

12.

Brand WA, Coplen TB, Vogl J et al (2014) Assessment of international reference materials for isotope-ratio analysis (IUPAC Technical Report). Pure Appl Chem 86(3):425–467CrossRef

13.

Wassenaar L, Hobson K (2003) Comparative equilibration and online technique for determination of non-exchangeable hydrogen of keratins for use in animal migration studies. Isot Environ Health Stud 39(3):211–217CrossRef

14.

Qi H, Coplen TB (2011) Investigation of preparation techniques for δ2H analysis of keratin materials and a proposed analytical protocol. Rapid Commun Mass Spectrom 25(15):2209–2222CrossRef

15.

Coplen TB, Qi H (2012) USGS42 and USGS43: human-hair stable hydrogen and oxygen isotopic reference materials and analytical methods for forensic science and implications for published measurement results. Forensic Sci Int 214(1–3):135–141CrossRef

16.

Birchall J, O’Connell TC, Heaton TH et al (2005) Hydrogen isotope ratios in animal body protein reflect trophic level. J Anim Ecol 74(5):877–881CrossRef

17.

Schoeninger MJ, DeNiro MJ (1984) Nitrogen and carbon isotopic composition of bone collagen from marine and terrestrial animals. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 48(4):625–639CrossRef

18.

Britton K, McManus-Fry E, Nehlich O et al (2018) Stable carbon, nitrogen and sulphur isotope analysis of permafrost preserved human hair from rescue excavations (2009, 2010) at the precontact site of Nunalleq. Alaska J Archaeol Sci Rep 17:950–963

19.

Nehlich O (2015) The application of sulphur isotope analyses in archaeological research: a review. Earth Sci Rev 142:1–17CrossRef

20.

Bowen GJ, Ehleringer JR, Chesson LA et al (2009) Dietary and physiological controls on the hydrogen and oxygen isotope ratios of hair from mid-20th century indigenous populations. Am J Phys Anthropol 139(4):494–504CrossRef

21.

van der Sluis L, Reimer P, Ogle N (2019) Adding hydrogen to the isotopic inventory—combining δ¹³C, δ¹⁵N and δ²H stable isotope analysis for palaeodietary purposes on archaeological bone. Archaeometry 61(3):720–749CrossRef

22.

van der Sluis LG, Hollund H, Kars H et al (2016) A palaeodietary investigation of a multi-period churchyard in Stavanger, Norway, using stable isotope analysis (C, N, H, S) on bone collagen. J Archaeol Sci Rep 9:120–133

23.

Hülsemann F, Lehn C, Schneiders S et al (2015) Global spatial distributions of nitrogen and carbon stable isotope ratios of modern human hair. Rapid Commun Mass Spectrom 29(22):2111–2121CrossRef

24.

Valenzuela LO, Chesson LA, Bowen GJ et al (2012) Dietary heterogeneity among western industrialized countries reflected in the stable isotope ratios of human hair. PLoS ONE 7(3):e34234CrossRef

25.

Bataille CP, Chartrand MM, Raposo F et al (2020) Assessing geographic controls of hair isotopic variability in human populations: a case-study in Canada. PLoS ONE 15(8):e0237105CrossRef

26.

Pragst F, Rothe M, Spiegel K et al (1998) Illegal and therapeutic drug concentrations in hair segments-a timetable of drug exposure? Forensic science review 10(2):81–111

27.

Hu L, Chartrand MM, St-Jean G et al (2020) Assessing the reliability of mobility interpretation from a multi-isotope hair profile on a traveling individual. Front Ecol Evol 8:302CrossRef

28.

Mekota AM, Grupe G, Ufer S et al (2006) Serial analysis of stable nitrogen and carbon isotopes in hair: monitoring starvation and recovery phases of patients suffering from anorexia nervosa. Rapid Commun Mass Spectrom 20(10):1604–1610CrossRef

29.

Neuberger FM, Jopp E, Graw M et al (2013) Signs of malnutrition and starvation—reconstruction of nutritional life histories by serial isotopic analyses of hair. Forensic Sci Int 226(1–3):22–32CrossRef

Title: Holiday trip to Norway — a stable isotope project on hair strands of individuals of a travel group from Bavaria
Authors: Christine Lehn
Annika Hameder
Matthias Graw
Publication date: 04-06-2022
Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in: International Journal of Legal Medicine / Issue 1/2023
Print ISSN: 0937-9827
Electronic ISSN: 1437-1596
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-022-02839-5

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on medication adherence

Springer Medicine

Holiday trip to Norway — a stable isotope project on hair strands of individuals of a travel group from Bavaria

Abstract

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on medication adherence

Springer Medicine

Abstract

Please log in to get access to this content

Other articles of this Issue 1/2023

The rights of migrants to the identification of their dead: an attempt at an identification strategy from Italy

STR typing of skin swabs from individuals after an allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation

Application of postmortem MRI for identification of medulla oblongata contusion as a cause of death: a case report

Average thickness of the bones of the human neurocranium: development of reference measurements to assist with blunt force trauma interpretations

The “hypopigmented” bitemark: a clinical and histologic appraisal

Analysis of skeletal trauma on the bodies found in a mass grave