To find index for early diagnosis of antemortem wound, the authors used the ICS analysis in a quantitive study of 5-hydroxytryptamine(5-HT) levels on rat's incised-skin antemortem wound in comparison with the postmortem wound inficted at various intervals. The results showed that the 5-HT increased significantly at 5 min, reached a peak at 15 min and decreased at 60 min on antemortem wounds. The 5-HT levels of antemortem groups were prominently high (more than 40%, P < 0.05) as compared with those of postmortem group and the levels of 5-HT on the wounds of postmortem groups were higher (35.77%, P < 0.05) than those of controls as well. The authors suggest that in the cases where the levels of 5-HT are as high as 40% on the edges of the injured skin, the injury should be considered an antemortem wound.