Serum biochemistry of and (: Emydidae) bred in captivity in the Northeastern semiarid region of Brazil.

AIM

This study aimed to assess fundamental biochemical values of healthy animals and to provide useful data on comparative physiologies of , being assessed the serum biochemistry profiles, and body and tail biometry of and bred in interaction in the semiarid region of the São Francisco river valley.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Serum biochemistry variables (urea, creatinine, glucose, total serum protein, albumin, globulin, and albumin/globulin ratio), and biometry values of the body (mass [body mass (BM)], maximum curvilinear length [carapace length (CL)], and width [carapace width (CW)] of the carapace, maximum curvilinear length [plastron length (PL)], and width [plastron width PW] of the plastron), and the tail (total length of the tail [TLT], pre-cloacal tail length [PrCL], post-cloacal tail length [PoCL]) were measured after 24 h fasting.

RESULTS

displayed higher BM, CL, CW, PL, PW, AST, TP, albumin, and globulin values. displayed higher values of glucose, TLT, and PrCL. Variables aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and total protein (TP) in and glucose in explained most of the variance between the species and could serve to distinguish them.

CONCLUSION

We conclude that most of the differences between and shall be explained by biometric variables, AST, TP, and glucose, which characterize interspecific differences. Our results point out terms of reference for these species bred in captivity in the semiarid region of Brazilian Northeastern region and serve as a model for the comparative intra- and inter-species physiology and as a base for the health assessment of these species.