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RE: [RC] red cells--FWIW - heidi

If horse blood is left standing still, horse RBCs do tend to "stack" and
therefore settle out much more quickly than other species, though


ESR or Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate (or Sed Rate). Usually <10 in 
humans; don't know for horses (do you have a figure, Heidi?)  A 
higher sed rate in humans usually means inflammation somewhere (well, 
it means increased plasma proteins, which is frequently the effect of 
that cause)  Also multiple myeloma and a few other things.  In 
horses, they seem to use Fibrinogen to 'test' for 
inflammation...no?  Fibrinogen can be increased in many human 
illnesses, but it's usually just seen as an incidental finding; it 
isn't tested for to determine inflammation.


High ESRs are very indicative of disease in cattle (where a sed rate of
anything over 4 over a period of 7-8 hours instead of the usual one
hour is considered to be red flag) and are of some use in dogs, too. 
In dogs and horses there is considerable variation in sed rates if the
packed cell volume varies, but still, in dogs, we are talking sed rates
in the teens for PCVs in normal ranges, and more like 50 in normal
ranges in horses.  Cats also have very high sed rates.

The stacking of red cells in cats and horses are called Roleaux
formations.  They don't clot or clump--they just look like a bunch of
saucers neatly stacked up.  And that's what makes for the really rapid
sed rates.

It's really handy in horses if you have to do a plasma transfer--back in
the days before we had plasma products for foals with failure of passive
transfer, we used to take wide-mouthed quart Mason jars with a little
bit of anticoagulant in them and bleed the mare until we had three of
them full enough that we couldn't swirl them anymore (would swirl them
to keep the anticoagulant mixed as the blood ran in).  Then we could
just stick them in the fridge for a couple of hours, and they'd be
settled to where we could harvest a liter or more of plasma off of them
to transfuse into the foal.  I still prefer that to the commercial
stuff, when possible, because it is more specific to the pathogens on
your own farm.

Heidi


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