Wildlife Epidemiology Laboratory, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61802, USA,
Oradell Animal Hospital, Paramus, NJ 07652 USA.
J Zoo Wildl Med. 2024 Jan;54(4):817-824. doi: 10.1638/2023-0001.
Anticoagulants prevent clotting of blood samples and preserve cellular morphology for hematologic evaluations, but studies comparing anticoagulants are limited in snakes. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of lithium heparin (LH) and dipotassium ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) on hematologic values in prairie rattlesnakes (PR; , n = 16) and Lake Erie water snakes (LEWS; , n = 21). Venipuncture was performed and blood samples were immediately aliquoted into LH and EDTA microtainers. Packed cell volume (PCV), total solids (TS), 100-cell differential counts, and Avian Leukopet white blood cell counts (WBC) were determined for each anticoagulant. Passing-Bablok regression and Bland-Altman plots revealed that anticoagulant choice did not constantly or proportionally bias the values of any WBC parameter. Mixed models demonstrated that blood anticoagulated with EDTA had higher PCV in PR ( = 0.04) and TS in both species ( < 0.05). However, the magnitude of the differences attributable to anticoagulant choice was relatively small and likely not clinically important. Hemolysis was not appreciated in any samples. Our findings demonstrate that LH and EDTA are equally appropriate for use in PR and LEWS, but may require separate reference values.
抗凝血剂可防止血液样本凝结，并保持血液学评估的细胞形态，但在蛇类中比较抗凝血剂的研究有限。本研究的目的是评估肝素锂（LH）和乙二胺四乙酸二钾（EDTA）对草原响尾蛇（PR；n=16）和伊利湖水蛇（LEWS；n=21）血液学值的影响。进行静脉穿刺，将血液样本立即分装入 LH 和 EDTA 微量管中。对每个抗凝剂进行红细胞压积（PCV）、总固体（TS）、100 细胞分类计数和禽白细胞计数（WBC）。通过 Passing-Bablok 回归和 Bland-Altman 图发现，抗凝剂的选择并不始终或成比例地影响任何 WBC 参数的值。混合模型表明，EDTA 抗凝的 PR 血液具有更高的 PCV（=0.04）和两种物种的更高 TS（<0.05）。然而，归因于抗凝剂选择的差异幅度相对较小，可能在临床上不重要。任何样本均未出现溶血。我们的研究结果表明，LH 和 EDTA 均可用于 PR 和 LEWS，但可能需要单独的参考值。
