Exploratory Study of the Effect of Postmortem Interval on the Biochemical Quality of Wild Boar (Sus scrofa) Blood

Diagnosing the cause of peracute death in wildlife is challenging, particularly when necropsy, histopathology, and ancillary testing yield nonspecific results. Biochemistry could provide pathophysiologic information on the death process that is unobtainable with morphologic methods. To evaluate the impact of postmortem delay on the quality of blood biochemical analysis, blood samples were collected from 20 wild boars (Sus scrofa) hunted in January 2018 in France. The body condition, age, and sex of each boar were recorded. Each animal was sampled once between the time of death and 6 h postmortem, with six boars sampled within the first hour, three boars sampled at each hour thereafter (hours 2-5), and two boars sampled at 6 h postmortem. Samples were promptly sent to the laboratory, centrifuged, and assessed for hemolysis before measurement of biochemical parameters using a wet chemistry analyzer. The first component from a principal component analysis was used as a quality index of the biochemical composition of the blood. This index strongly correlated positively with sodium and chloride and negatively with total proteins, alanine aminotransferase, fructosamine, and potassium. A segmented regression analysis indicated stability of blood quality for 2 h after death, followed by a linear decrease. Practically, blood samples drawn within 2 h after death maintained overall quality. This exploratory study should be expanded with evaluations of changes of individual metabolites over time.