The effect of high anticoagulant K3-EDTA concentration on complete blood count and white blood cell differential counts in healthy beagle dogs
2005
Nemec, A., Ljubljana Univ. (Slovenia). Veterinary Fac. | Drobnic-Kosorok, M. | Butinar, J.
The sodium or potassium salts of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), anticoagulants recommended for routine haematological analyses, are known to have deleterious effects on platelets, erythrocytes and leukocyte counts even at recommended concentrations (1,8 mg/mL of blood). Under-filling of tubes containing K3EDTA due to difficulties in sampling that produces higher K3EDTA concentrations than recommended may occur in severely hypotensive, restless, very small or obese dogs and cats. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of high anticoagulant K3EDTA concentration on complete blood count (CBC) and white blood cell differential count (WCDC) in healthy beagle dogs. The recommended volume of 3 and 1 mL of blood were put in K3EDTA containing tubes to obtain recommended (1.8 mg/mL) and high (5.4 mg/mL) K3EDTA concentrations (under-filled tubes), respectively. CBC and WCDC were determined with a laser haematology analyser with species-specific software. Presence of platelet clumps was determined by examination of blood smears. The results showed a significant (P0.05) decrease in hematocrit (HCT) from 0.55 +/- 0.043 to 0.48 +/- 0.042 (13.4 +/- 4.8 % decrease) and mean corpuscular volume (MCV) from 74.4 +/- 1.1 to 65.4 +/- 3.0 fL (11.9 +/- 4.2 % decrease), and a significant increase in mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration (MCHC) from 306.5 +/- 5.7 to 349.7 +/-17.8 g/L (14.0 +/- 5.9 % increase) in samples with high K3EDTA concentration in comparison with the recommended concentration. No platelet clumping was detected in all examined blood smears. According to the results of our study, we recommend respecting the required blood to anticoagulant ratio, as under-filling of tubes leads to a high final concentration of K3EDTA, which affects values of HCT, MCV and MCHC and thus interpretation of haematological results in dogs.
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