Determination of the reference values in the blood count of horses born or reared between 0 and 500 m.a.s.l. in the coastal region of Ecuador

Abstract

The present study was carried out in the littoral region of Ecuador, analyzing the hemograms of 100 horses clinically

healthy, over two years of age and reared between 0 and 500 masl, in order to determinate hematological reference values and compare the results obtained with the reference values of a previous study performed to more than 3000 masl, in the Ecuadorian north central sierra. Therefore, blood samples were taken from animals at rest and were submitted to laboratory analysis with the Mindray Rauto-hematology equipment BC2800Vet, and with this information the statistical study was made using Microsoft Excel R“Reference Value Advisor” to identify possible references values and to eliminate outlier data. These blood samples were taken from Ecuadorian creole horses in order to maintain a statistical sample with homogeneous blood parameters and a reference of this variety, which has only been studied before over 3000 masl. The following values were identified: erythrocytes: 4.90-9.38x106/uL, hematocrit: 24.83-45.10%, hemoglobin: 8.59-14,87g/dL, mean corpuscular volume: 42,35-55,19fL, mean corpuscular hemoglobin: 14,25-18.20pg, concentration of mean corpuscular hemoglobin: 32.10-36.70g/dL, white blood cells: 5.64-12.81x103/uL, lymphocytes: 1.04-5.85x103/uL, monocytes: 0.20-0.90x103/uL, granulocytes: 2.90-8.26x103/uL, and blood platelets between: 78.10-314.90x103/uL. In the comparison with the obtained results, significant differences were found (P<0.05) in the erythrocytes, hemoglobin, hematocrit and platelets reference values due to the height influence; while significant differences (P<0.05) were also found in the white series (leukocytes, lymphocytes, monocytes and granulocytes) but this due to physiological or pathological influence and not thanks to the altitudinal effect.