Abstract
The haematological and biochemical profile of equine umbilical cord blood (UCB) is not well known presently and very little information is available about peripheral blood of equine neonates immediately after foaling. This information has relevance as UCB is a rich source of progenitor stem cells and neonatal hematology may be useful in early disease diagnosis and management in equines. In the present study, hematological and biochemical values for umbilical cord blood (11) collected at natural full term were compared with peripheral blood of neonatal foal and its dam. Comparative hematological analysis indicated that total leucocyte count in UCB (3.63±0.40 × 109/L) was significantly lower than that of mare, whereas total erythrocyte count (12.53±1.56 × 1012/L), lymphocyte (26.76±3.37%) and monocyte (6.65±0.44%) in UCB were significantly higher than those of mare blood. Biochemical analysis revealed that glutamic pyruvic transaminase (GPT) concentration (13.3±1.70 IU/L) was lower in UCB, whereas glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (GOT) concentration (332.3±15.90 IU/L) and alkaline phosphatase concentration (209.0±3.27 IU/L) were higher in UCB than mare blood. Calcium, total protein and albumin concentration was lowest in UCB in comparison to mare and neonatal foal blood. These findings indicated that UCB hematological and biochemical profile is significantly different from mare and foal blood. These differences in UCB could be due to independent hematopoiesis of UCB, probably occurring in the umbilical cord itself in equines as no mixing of blood occurs in equine UCB, foal and mare during pregnancy.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1165-1168 |
| Number of pages | 4 |
| Journal | Indian Journal of Animal Sciences |
| Volume | 83 |
| Issue number | 11 |
| State | Published - Nov 2013 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Biochemical profile
- Equine
- Foal
- Hematology
- Umbilical cord blood