Dispensa medica completa sangue GALGOS

Standard (NCCLS) Guidelines, as venous samples are more com- monly obtained and practical to evaluate in the clinical setting, and venous blood can provide satisfactory pH and pCO2 values. However, venous pO2 values may not be clinically relevant in a routine clinical study without simultaneous study of arterial pO2 (NCCLS Guidelines). Sample handling could have influ- enced venous SO2%, pCO2 and pO2 (Wimberley and others 1991); however, all the samples were handled by the same opera- tor (I.M.S.), using the same technique and minimising errors due to room-air contamination by expelling all air from the syringe, capping the syringe, and rolling the syringe between the hands periodically (Ehrmeyer and others 1993). It has been shown that the use of EDTA, citrate, oxalate and fluoride anticoagulants may alter the results of pH, but all our measurements were per- formed on lithium heparin, which is an acceptable anticoagulant for pH, blood gas values, electrolyte concentrations and metabo- lite analyses (Ehrmeyer and others 1993).

Blood gas and acid-base balance values have been previously studied in greyhounds. Steiss and others (2000) showed that more than 50% of greyhounds had values outside the canine ref- erence intervals established in their laboratory for Hb, tCO2 and AnGap. The current authors recently reported that greyhounds had significantly higher pH, pO2, SO2, oxyhemoglobin, tHb, O2t, oxygen capacity and oxygen affinity, and significantly lower deoxyhemoglobin when compared with non-greyhound dogs (Zaldivar-Lopez and others 2011c). It is proposed that the high- oxygen-affinity Hb (low P50) found in the greyhound makes greyhound Hb more likely to remain bound to oxygen for lon- ger, therefore being released at a deeper tissue level, where oxygen tension is lower. Sullivan and others (1994) proposed that the lower oxygen release to the tissues could be the reason for the higher RBC, Hb and HCT in greyhounds. However, differences in blood gas values and acid-base balance in the Galgo Español group when compared to the non-Galgo Español group were not found in the present study, with the exception of pH. No sig- nificant differences were observed between males and females in this study.

No significant differences in electrolyte concentrations between the Galgo Español group and the non-Galgo Español group were found. To the authors’ knowledge, only one study has published results of electrolyte concentrations in Galgos Españoles. Zaldivar-Lopez and others (2011a) reported a lower serum Cl− concentration in Galgos Españoles when compared to mixed-breed dogs; however, in the present study, there were no significant differences for this parameter. Chloride is the major extracellular anion in the body, playing an important role in maintaining electrical neutrality and normal osmolality, and participating in the regulation of acid-base balance; therefore, the true value of this parameter should be established in Galgos Espa- ñoles by further studies to avoid misdiagnosis.

Recently, Dunlop and others (2011) established greyhound- specific reference intervals, demonstrating that the Ca++ refer- ence interval is lower in greyhounds when compared to standard reference intervals (Dunlop and others 2011). Steiss and others (2000) reported that greyhounds had higher Na+, K+, Ca++ or Cl− concentrations, compared with the reference intervals of

the Auburn University Clinical Pathology Laboratory. Sodium concentrations in greyhounds examined by Porter and Canaday (1971) also were higher than in the mongrel controls. However, no significant differences between the Galgo Español group and the non-Galgo Español group in those parameters were found in this study. Possible confounding factors of environmental and lifestyle in the animals studied could have influenced the results (Ilkiw and others 1989, Rose and Bloomberg 1989, Toll and oth- ers 1995, Hill and others 2011) although pet animals with simi- lar physical activity were selected.

A limitation of this study is the small size of the Galgo Espa- ñol group. A larger study may have identified other significant differences. In addition, it would have allowed the calculation of breed-specific reference intervals in Galgos Españoles, which would have been useful in clinical practice.

CONCLUSION

These results confirm that significant haematologic differences exist in Galgos Españoles, when compared with a group contain- ing dogs of different breeds, although these differences are not as striking as in greyhounds. It can be concluded that Galgos Españoles and greyhounds have similar CBC peculiarities and differences when compared to other dog breeds, but they do not share blood gas, electrolyte concentration and acid-base balance idiosyncrasies previously reported in greyhounds. The present results suggest that some reference intervals (i.e., CBC) should be modified for Galgos Españoles, and veterinary practitioners should be conscious of these differences. CBC, blood gas val- ues, electrolyte concentrations and acid-base balance are com- monly evaluated in daily veterinary clinical practice, and Galgos Españoles have many idiosyncrasies that can affect their medi- cal care. Being aware of these will prevent misdiagnoses and will allow more appropriate treatment and diagnostic testing in this breed.

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Clinical the Laboratory of the Teaching Veterinary Hospital (University of Cordoba) for their support in this study, providing the blood analysers and reagents needed for the measurement of the parameters. This work was supported by the Medicine and Surgery Department of University of Córdoba and the Vice-chancellor for Internalization of the University of Córdoba.

Conflict of interest

None of the authors of this article has a financial or personal relationship with other people or organisations that could inappropriately influence or bias the content of the paper.