Data compilation and analysis

The storage (G′), loss (G″), and complex shear moduli (G*) were determined for all samples. Data were entered into Microsoft Excel, version 16.74 (Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, USA), and then processed and analyzed using GraphPad Prism, version 9 (GraphPad Software, La Jolla, USA). The Shapiro-Wilk test was applied to evaluate the normality of data distributions. The measured rheological properties were correlated with age at death, PMI and the spleen weight measured at autopsy. Depending on the distribution, either Pearson’s (P(r)), for normal distribution, or Spearman’s (S(r)), for non-normal distribution, correlation coefficients were calculated. Group comparisons of the measured rheological spleen properties were performed for males vs. females, cadavers with vs. without cardiopulmonary resuscitation based on autopsy reports, cadavers without microscopic signs of liver pathology vs. fatty livers, with microscopic signs of inflammation vs. non-inflamed samples, with microscopic signs of fibrosis vs. non-fibrous samples and samples with microscopic blood congestion signs vs. uncongested samples. In addition, the spleen weight, age at death and PMI was compared for all of the abovementioned groups to exclude any bias based on one of the three factors. For group comparisons, either unpaired t-tests with Welch’s correction or unpaired Mann-Whitney U-tests were performed. P-values ≤ 0.05 were considered statistically significant.