title: Studies of bone marrow and leucocyte counts in peripheral blood in fetal and newborn foals.
abstract: Clinical and pathological records of 124 foals were studied. The foals were assigned to six groups; normal, premature, dysmature, bacterially infected, neonatal maladjustment syndrome and Equid herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) infected. Also, 6 pony fetuses were sampled via catheters in the umbilical vein and artery between 280 and 310 days gestation. Bone marrow aspiration was performed on a further 14 foals. Premature foals had significantly lower neutrophil counts than normal foals up to 5 h. Foals with bacterial infections had significantly lower neutrophil counts up to age 12 h. EHV-1 infected foals had significantly lower neutrophil counts up to age 24 h and significantly lower lymphocyte counts than all other groups up to age 12 h. Premature foals showed a higher neutrophil count and neutrophil/lymphocyte (N:L) ratio in survivors compared with non-survivors when all ages were considered, although the differences were not significant before 35 h. Discriminant analysis showed a 99% chance that the EHV-1 group could be identified from all other groups except dysmature foals, where discrimination between the two groups was about 90%. In catheterized fetuses, age-related increases in neutrophil counts and the N:L ratio occur from 280 to 310 days of gestation. In one preparation available for study leading up to parturition, the N:L ratio widened during the 3 days pre-partum. The bone marrow aspirates showed no significant changes in the myeloid:erythroid (M:E) ratio during the first 4 days post partum. The left shift (LS) index was significantly higher in foals suffering bacterial infection compared with normal or dysmature foals.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
authors.affiliation: Huntingdon Research Centre, Department of Clinical Pathology, Cambs, U.K.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Chavatte
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Ousey
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Silver
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cottrill
authors.forename: A L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Fowden
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: McGladdery
authors.forename: P D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Rossdale
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn / Q000097:blood*; D001853:Bone Marrow / Q000473:pathology*; D005312:Fetal Blood / Q000166:cytology*; D006566:Herpesviridae Infections / Q000473:pathology / Q000662:veterinary; D004861:Herpesvirus 1, Equid; D006734:Horse Diseases / Q000097:blood*; D006736:Horses; D007958:Leukocyte Count; D007962:Leukocytes / Q000473:pathology*; D009504:Neutrophils