Bogan James E
Central Florida Zoo's Orianne Center for Indigo Conservation, Brantley Branch Road, Eustis, FL 30931, USA.
Animals (Basel). 2023 Jan 28;13(3):464. doi: 10.3390/ani13030464.
Erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) is a hematological test that can detect inflammatory activity within the body. Although not specific for any particular disease, ESR is often used as a screening "sickness indicator" due to its reliability and low cost. The Westergren method is a manual ESR technique commonly used but requires special graduated pipettes and over 1mL of whole blood, precluding its use in smaller patients where limited sample volumes can be obtained. A modified micro-ESR technique has been described using hematocrit capillary tubes but is used less commonly. ESR has been reported to be a useful inflammatory indicator in gopher tortoises () and box turtles ( spp.) but not in Florida cottonmouth snakes (). Having an inexpensive screening test for inflammation can help guide medical decisions within conservation efforts of imperiled species. This study evaluated the correlation between these two ESR methodologies in threatened eastern indigo snakes (, EIS) and found a very strong correlation ( = 0.897), without constant or proportional biases and a reference interval of 0 (90% CI -1-1)-9 mm/h (90% CI 8-11) was defined. Additionally, a significant difference was found between healthy EIS and EIS in mid-ecdysis ( = 0.006) and EIS with gastric cryptosporidiosis ( = 0.006), indicating ESR as a useful inflammatory indicator in EIS.
红细胞沉降率（ESR）是一项血液学检查，可检测体内的炎症活动。虽然ESR并非针对任何特定疾病具有特异性，但由于其可靠性和低成本，它常被用作一种筛查“疾病指标”。魏氏法是一种常用的手动ESR技术，但需要特殊的刻度吸管和超过1mL的全血，这使得它无法用于只能获取有限样本量的较小患者。一种改良的微量ESR技术已被描述，该技术使用血细胞比容毛细管，但较少使用。据报道，ESR在沙龟和箱龟中是一种有用的炎症指标，但在佛罗里达水腹蛇中并非如此。拥有一种廉价的炎症筛查测试有助于在濒危物种的保护工作中指导医疗决策。本研究评估了这两种ESR方法在濒危的东部靛蓝蛇中的相关性，发现两者具有很强的相关性（r = 0.897），不存在恒定或比例偏差，并定义了参考区间为0（90%CI -1-1）-9 mm/h（90%CI 8-11）。此外，还发现健康的东部靛蓝蛇与处于蜕皮中期的东部靛蓝蛇（p = 0.006）以及患有胃隐孢子虫病的东部靛蓝蛇（p = 0.006）之间存在显著差异，这表明ESR是东部靛蓝蛇中一种有用的炎症指标。
