Postmortem Attraction of Sarcosaprophagous Diptera to Tramadol-Treated Rats and Morphometric Aspects of the Developed Larvae.

Abstract

The presence of some specific drugs in animal tissues may affect the time of minimal postmortem intervals estimated during forensic entomological investigations. To test the effects of a specific drug on decomposition, a field study was conducted at Fayoum University campus, Egypt, from March to May 2013, using tramadol, a synthetic analgesic opioid used to treat moderate to severe pain in humans. Albino rats were used as the animal model during this study. The duration of the fresh stage of tramadol treated rat (Ttr) carcasses was significantly shorter (2.4 ± 0.27days) compared to tramadol free rat (Tfr) carcasses (6.4 ± 0.49days). The dry carcass stage of Ttr lasted longer (10.3 ± 0.99days) as compared to (7.4 ± 0.18days) the Tfr carcass. The decomposition process of the (Ttr) carcass was not significantly faster (24.9 ± 1.58days) as compared to (Tfr) carcasses (29.5 ± 1.69). Lucilia cuprina (Wiedemann), Chrysomya albiceps (Wiedemann), and Musca domestica L. were less attracted to Ttr carcass-baited traps than traps with Tfr carcasses. However, females of Sarcophaga spp. showed a greater attraction to Ttr carcasses. Females of another sarcophagid fly, Wohlfahrtia spp. exhibited similar attraction tendencies to both types of trap baits. Larvae of S. argyrostoma (Robineau-Desvoidy) collected from Ttr carcasses developed to a significantly longer total body length (10.4 ± 0.04mm) as compared to the average length of the larvae collected from Tfr carcasses (8.9 ± 0.34mm). During days 9-13 after rat death, the relative lengths of larvae from Ttr carcasses were not significantly different from Tfr carcasses. Larvae fed on Ttr carcasses pupated 2days later than the control larvae.