AVALIAÇÃO CLÍNICA E CITOLÓGICA DO TRATO RESPIRATÓRIO DE CAVALOS DA RAÇA QUARTO DE MILHA, APÓS O EXERCÍCIO

The aim of this study was to evaluate the bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) cytology following exercise from twelve Quarter Horse breed animals from Curitiba City and surroundings. After infusion of 100 ml of physiologic solution with endoscopy and silicon catheter, an average of 30 mL of BAL was recovery per horse, analized and submited to cytocentrifugation. Cytocentrifuge slides were obtained and stained by Giemsa, Papanicolaou and Perl’s Prussian Blue. None of the horses presented epistaxis or any other abnormality on the clinical examination, nor pulmonary bleeding by endoscopy. The erythrocyte and leukocyte in BAL counts were with in the normal range of literature, as well as the leukocyte differential, with a mean proportion of 62.3±13.7% and 34.1±14.8% for macrophages and lymphocytes, respectivelly. However, the presence of hemosiderophages in different percentages, suggested that part of the animals were under subclinical pulmonary hemorrhage, not clinically detected. Based on the present study, we concluded that the evaluation of cellular populations with the use of cytocentrifuge and special stains can provide to the clinician important additional information on functional status of respiratory tract, particularly hemorrhage.