Strain differences in inbred rats: influence of strain and diet on haematological traits

Abstract

5 inbred strains of rats maintained on 3 commercial pelleted diets were investigated for differences in haematological traits on the 154th day of age. Number, size and haemoglobin content of the erythrocytes were shown to be strongly influenced by strain and diet. While the strain AS/Ztm was always found in a high position within the ranking order of strains, the strain DA/Ztm was always found in a low position. For nearly all haematological traits, diet II (Altromin C1000) resulted in the highest values. This was not due to a difference in the content of iron (Fe), because even though diet III (Altromin 1534) contained only 50% of the Fe in diet I (Altromin 1324), differences between these two diets were small. Significant interactions between strain and diet were shown to exist for the mean corpuscular volume (MCV) and the mean corpuscular haemoglobin (MCH). Strong genetic correlations were found between haematocrit (HCT) and haemoglobin (Hb) and between MCV and MCH, while the number of red blood cells (RBC), Hb, HCT, MCV and MCH correlated significantly within each strain. However, these environmental correlations have to be interpreted with caution, because these variables are not determined independently.

Utilization of <i>Prosopis africana</i> pulp for rabbit feeding: 2. Effects on nutrient digestibility, blood components and carcass characteristics

“…The normal and similar values obtained for all the treatment groups indicated nutritional adequacy of the various diets since abnormal values would have indicated mal-or under nutrition (Church et al, 1984). Hackbarth et al (1983) found that there is a strong influence of diet on haematological traits with PCV and Hb being very strong indicators of nutritional status of animals. The PCV and Hb values obtained in this study are similar to the 29.50 to 36.5% and 10.40 to 12.6 g/l00ml reported by Alade et al (2001) for rabbits fed dry poultry waste.…”

“…Since there was no sign of ill-health or anaemia observed in all the treatments, the diets might have met the minimum nutrient needs of the rabbits. Diets have very strong influence on haematological traits and serum biochemical indices (Hackbarth et al, 1983). Abnormal values of these parameters would have indicated malor under-nutrition (Duncan andPrasse, 1977 andBush, 1975).…”

Performance, Haematology and Serum Chemistry of Weaner Rabbits Fed Urea-Treated and Fermented Brewer’s Dried Grains Groundnut Cake-Based Diets

“…The values of these indicators obtained in this study fall within the physiological ranges reported by several workers (Poole, 1987;Anon, 1980;PGCVS, 1990). Hackbath et al (1983) found that there is a strong influence of diet on haematological traits with PCV and Hb being very strong indicators of nutritional status of animals. The values obtained for all treatment groups in these indicators indicate nutritional adequacy of the diets since values did not indicate malnutrition or under-nutrition (Church et al, 1984).…”

Factors That Can Influence Animal Research

“…In inbred rats, both diet and strain strongly influence the number, size, and hemoglobin content of red blood cells (Hackbarth et al, 1983). In rats, aflatoxin B1-induced hepatic neoplasms were more significant when corn oil was the source of dietary fat compared to beef fat (Newberne et al, 1979).…”