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Peritoneal fluid values from healthy foals
Author(s) -
GRINDEM C. B.,
FAIRLEY N. M.,
UHLINGER C. A.,
CRANE S. A.
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
equine veterinary journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.82
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 2042-3306
pISSN - 0425-1644
DOI - 10.1111/j.2042-3306.1990.tb04290.x
Subject(s) - liter , peritoneal fluid , horse , white blood cell , foal , reference range , medicine , zoology , biuret test , andrology , chemistry , urea , biology , biochemistry , paleontology , genetics
Summary Peritoneal fluid was analysed from 17 foals, aged 13 to 134 days with a mean age of 68 days. Cytologically, the peritoneal fluid was characterised by a mean total cell count of 0.45 times 10 9 /litre (range 0.06 to 1.42 times 10 9 /litre), rare eosinophils, rare cytophagia and variable percentages of neutrophils and mononuclear cells. These data indicate that peritoneal fluid nucleated cell counts over 1.50 times 10 9 /litre in the foal should be interpreted as elevated. Biochemical evaluation revealed a mean biuret protein level of 12 g/litre, mean refractive index protein level of 16 g/litre and urea nitrogen concentration of 1.96 mmol/litre. There was no correlation between the foals' white blood cell and peritoneal fluid nucleated cell counts. Results of this study indicate that adult horse reference values for evaluation of peritoneal fluid are of questionable validity for foals. Diagnostically, the most important observation was that maximum peritoneal fluid nucleated cell counts in healthy foals were much lower than reported maximal reference values for adult horses (1.5 times 10 9 /litre versus 5.0 times 10 9 /litre or 10.0 times 10 9 /litre).