University of California Davis, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California Davis, School of Veterinary Medicine, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
Department of Medicine and Epidemiology, University of California Davis, School of Veterinary Medicine, Davis, CA 95616, USA,
J Avian Med Surg. 2022 Nov;36(3):250-261. doi: 10.1647/21-00039.
Although cockatiels are among the most common avian species maintained as companion animals in the United States, information on standard hematologic reference values for this species is limited. The objectives of this study were to establish hematologic reference intervals (RI) for cockatiels, compare methods using both the Natt-Herrick technique (NHT) and the smear-based estimation technique (SBT), explore age and sex differences in the hematologic findings for this species, and produce the first cockatiel RI for fibrinogen concentration and thrombocyte estimate. Healthy cockatiels (60 males and 60 females, 2-11 years old) from a research colony were included in this study. Blood samples were placed in dipotassium ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid tubes, and erythrocyte counts and thrombocyte estimates were determined via automated analyzer (ADVIA 120) and SBT, respectively. Moreover, leukocyte concentrations were determined using both NHT and SBT to compare these common methods for measuring a complete blood count in cockatiels. Data were analyzed for outliers, distributions, descriptive statistics, and RI via Reference Value Adviser, a set of macroinstructions for Microsoft Excel (Microsoft, Redmond, WA, USA). Lymphocytes were the predominant leukocyte across both methods. According to the NHT, females had significantly higher concentrations of total leukocytes, heterophils, bands, lymphocytes, basophils, and total plasma protein compared with males. Significant inverse polynomial relationships were noted between total leukocyte count and age and lymphocyte counts and age for NHT. Total leukocyte count produced via NHT and SBT were compared using Passing-Bablok and Bland-Altman plots, and no significant constant or proportional biases were found. However, these methods showed wide limits of agreement. While the RI were interchangeable between methods from a clinical standpoint, the same method should be used to assess changes in an individual. The reported RI are uniquely robust given the sample size, balanced sex and age distributions, inclusion criteria, and control over sample collection.
尽管鸡尾鹦鹉是美国最常见的作为伴侣动物饲养的鸟类之一，但关于该物种的标准血液学参考值的信息有限。本研究的目的是为鸡尾鹦鹉建立血液学参考区间（RI），比较使用 Natt-Herrick 技术（NHT）和基于涂片的估计技术（SBT）的方法，探讨该物种的血液学发现的年龄和性别差异，并生成第一个关于纤维蛋白原浓度和血小板估计的鸡尾鹦鹉 RI。本研究纳入了来自一个研究群体的 60 只雄性和 60 只雌性、2-11 岁的健康鸡尾鹦鹉。将血液样本置于二钾乙基二胺四乙酸管中，通过自动分析仪（ADVIA 120）和 SBT 分别测定红细胞计数和血小板估计值。此外，还使用 NHT 和 SBT 测定白细胞浓度，以比较这两种常见的测量方法在鸡尾鹦鹉中的全血细胞计数。使用宏指令集 Reference Value Adviser（适用于 Microsoft Excel 的一组宏指令）分析数据的离群值、分布、描述性统计和 RI。NHT 中，与雄性相比，雌性的总白细胞、异嗜性粒细胞、带、淋巴细胞、嗜碱性粒细胞和总血浆蛋白浓度显著更高。NHT 中观察到总白细胞计数和年龄以及淋巴细胞计数和年龄之间呈显著的多项式逆相关关系。使用 Passing-Bablok 和 Bland-Altman 图比较 NHT 和 SBT 产生的总白细胞计数，未发现显著的常数或比例偏差。然而，这些方法显示出广泛的一致性界限。从临床角度来看，RI 在方法之间是可互换的，但应使用相同的方法来评估个体的变化。考虑到样本量、平衡的性别和年龄分布、纳入标准以及对样本采集的控制，报告的 RI 具有独特的稳健性。
