Poster 262.  Congresso da Sociedade Brasileira de Toxinologia, 8., Symposium of the Pan American Section of the International Society on Toxinology, 8., 2004, Angra dos Reis, Brasil.  Abstracts...  J. Venom. Anim. Toxins incl.Trop. Dis., 2004, 10, 3, p.621.

 

 

Bovine Blood Profile After Bothrops alternatus Envenomation

 

1Oliveira, N. J. F.; 1Ribeiro, E. L.; 1Silva Júnior, P. G. P.; 1Lago, L. A.; 2Lucia, M.; 1Melo, M. M.

 

1 Depto Clínica e Cirurgia Veterinárias, Escola de Veterinária, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, MG, 2 Depto de Biologia, UNIFENAS, MG.

 

Despite the high number of Bothrops envenomation in cattle, the hematological changes in the first two days are poorly known. In contrast to other species that have extreme leukocytosis, bovine has just a discrete leukocytosis in the majority of acute cases. The aim of this work was to evaluate the bovine blood profile after B. alternatus envenomation. Five adult crossbreed cows were inoculated with B. alternatus venom (0.15mg/kg) diluted in saline. Whole blood and serum were collected to perform hemogram analysis using an electronic counter (ABX Vet) and total protein (TP) by biuret method, respectively. These blood samples were collected before (baseline) and after venom inoculation at 3h, 8h, 24h and 48h. Three hours after venom inoculation the number of White blood cells (WBC) doubled (29,000/ml) when compared to the baseline (13,180/ml). This extreme leukocytosis was observed up to 48h after Bothrops venom inoculation. This result shows that bovine is more sensitive than canine, for instance. In this experiment, Bothrops alternatus venom (0.15mg/kg) was able to kill two cows (48h). In contrast, in a different study from our group, 12 dogs inoculated with 0.30mg/kg of same venom survived and only had a discrete leukocytosis (17,000/ml) at 48 h. Based on the eritrograma, the bovine showed the same result as other species, including man: reduced red blood cell number (6 to 4 million cells/ml), globular volume (27 to 16%), hemoglobin concentration (8.9 to 5.1g/dl) and Total Protein (5,74 to 4,18g/dl) comparing baseline and 48h after venom inoculation, respectively. These results demonstrated that B. alternatus venom causes early alterations in bovine blood profile characterized by leukocytosis, normocitic normocromic anemia and TP reduction.

 

Support: CNPq

 

Correspondence to: pgjuniorvet@globo.com