The Pet Blood Bank (PBBuk) is a UK charity that holds blood products in a national blood bank; blood donors are classified by blood typing, hematology, and serum biochemical testing. Greyhounds frequently have laboratory reference values that vary from other breeds, and this study aimed to estimate reference intervals for biochemical analytes and any gender differences in healthy, nonracing greyhound donors in the PBBuk. Dogs in the study had blood drawn between 2007 and 2008 and included 269 males, 202 females, and 28 dogs with no specified gender; dogs ranged from 1 to 9 years old. Measured analytes included albumin, alkaline phosphatase (ALP), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), amylase, calcium, creatinine, gamma-glutamytranspeptidase (GGT), glucose, bilirubin, total protein, and urea. Reference values for total protein, albumin, globulin, and creatinine differed from generic laboratory intervals used in other dog breeds. Greyhound reference intervals identified in this study were similar to those identified in other greyhound studies, although with a narrower value range. The results suggested that the larger numbers of reference individuals predicted a more accurate estimate, and suggested no need to partition by gender.
Commentary: The reference intervals in this study were narrower than previously described, which suggests a more accurate estimate of analyte abnormalities. This is always a goal in interpretation of blood analysis results for clinicians, particularly for greyhounds, which may demonstrate breed-specific differences in reference ranges. Additional studies with larger sample sizes should be performed to confirm this relationship.—Indu Mani, DVM, DSc
Determination of serum biochemistry reference intervals in a large sample of adult greyhounds. Dunlop MM, Sanchez-Vazquez MJ, Freeman KP, et al. J SMALL ANIM PRACT 52:4-10, 2011.
