Identification and discrimination of human keratinized tissues using ATR-FTIR and chemometrics

In forensic investigations, human keratinized tissues like skin and nails are commonly encountered as trace evidence, yet the use of vibrational spectroscopy for their identification and differentiation has been underexplored. This research utilized ATR-FTIR to distinguish between human nails and skin samples collected from a group of 50 participants, employing advanced chemometric analysis techniques. The spectral signatures of human keratinized tissues, such as nails and skin, exhibit similarities consistent with previous studies. Chemometric analysis aimed at distinguishing these tissues showed that the PLS-DA model achieved an overall accuracy of 67 % with an AUC score of 0.65, while the SVM model had an overall accuracy of 56 % with an AUC score of 0.71. For sex identification, the PLS-DA model demonstrated an overall accuracy of 83 % with an AUC value of 1, whereas the SVM model achieved an overall accuracy of 100 % with an AUC score of 1. The study underscores the potential of ATR-FTIR coupled with chemometrics in the precise identification and differentiation of human keratinized tissue, thereby enhancing the capabilities of forensic investigations.