The rate of development of postmortem artefact in the small intestine of neonatal calves.

The rate of development of postmortem artefacts was investigated in the mucosa of the small intestine of a calf dually infected with an enteropathogenic strain of Esch. coli and rotavirus, and an uninfected control calf. Samples were removed under general anaesthesia from the proximal, middle and distal small intestine and compared with those taken from adjacent sites 1-30 min after severing the major blood vessels of the neck. In the challenged calf, changes occurred in the villous mucosa by 3 min after severance, whilst in the control calf good fixation was obtained until 10 min after severance.