Table 1.

Impact of euthanasia methods on serum free fatty acids.

Free fatty acid	CO2 inhalation	Decapitation	Pentobarbital	p-Values (ANOVA)
[14:0]	31.7 ± 6.6	25.3 ± 2.5	16.0 ± 3.8	0.076
[16:0]	190.5 ± 31.0	185.2 ± 18.7	161.7 ± 23.5	0.69
[16:1]	69.4 ± 12.7	60.6 ± 4.5	53.3 ± 10.0	0.51
[18:0]	23.8 ± 1.3**	26.7 ± 1.7***	16.4 ± 1.8	0.00049
[18:1]	100.6 ± 11.9	106.4 ± 9.2	107.2 ± 13.8	0.91
[18:2]	159.1 ± 13.2	163.0 ± 11.5	160.5 ± 17.7	0.98
[18:3n-3]	12.0 ± 1.5	12.3 ± 1.3	11.4 ± 1.4	0.89
[18:3n-6]	8.2 ± 4.4	8.9 ± 4.7	6.4 ± 3.4	0.91
[20:3]	6.1 ± 0.7	5.8 ± 0.3	5.4 ± 0.5	0.58
[20:4]	66.1 ± 3.6*	67.1 ± 1.5*	56.8 ± 3.4	0.045
[20:5n-3]	2.7 ± 0.3	2.6 ± 0.1	2.6 ± 0.3	0.86
[22:6n-3]	19.7 ± 1.6	16.9 ± 0.8	18.1 ± 1.5	0.35

Myristic acid (14:0), Palmitic acid (16:0), Palmitoleic acid (16:1n-7), Stearic acid (18:0), Oleic acid (18:1n-9), Linoleic acid (18:2n-6), α-Linolenic acid (18:3n-3), γ-Linolenic acid (18:3n-6), Dihomo-γ-linolenic acid (20:3n-6), Arachidonic acid (20:4n-6), Eicosapentaenoic acid (20:5n-3), Docosahexaenoic acid (22:6n-3).

Values represent mean ± S.E.M. (μM).

^*p < 0.05,

^**p < 0.01,

^***p < 0.001 compared with animals killed by pentobarbital (ANOVA followed by Fischer’s LSD test; n = 8).