Effect of age and storage conditions on the volatile organic compound profile of blood.

Cadaver-detection dogs are used by the police to locate missing persons, victims of homicide, and human remains following mass disasters. Training is conducted using a variety of training aids including blood which can be hours, weeks or months old and stored under variable conditions. The aim of this study was to chemically profile human blood using solid-phase microextraction coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry to determine how the volatile organic compound (VOC) profile changed over time and under variable storage conditions.