Predictive elements of obstructive urolithiasis in sheep

ABSTRACT

Background: Urolithiasis is an economically important disease that has considerable significance for sheep farming.With the tissue and biochemical changes resulting from the development of this disease, metabolic disorders and immuneresponse are established. Hemogasometric evaluation allows the identification of systemic acid-base imbalances quickly.Acute phase proteins (APP) have in the last two decades had become the biomarkers of choice in human and veterinarymedicine. To date, no biomarker studies have been published for sheep with obstructive urolithiasis. Thus, this studyaimed to analyze the hemogasometric kinetics in obstructive urolithiasis in sheep and the APP that can be used as earlybiomarkers in this disease.Materials, Methods & Results: In this study, 14 healthy male Santa Inês sheep, aged approximately 90 days, were fed oncalculogenic diet for 120 days. The sheep were examined weekly to observe the clinical signs. Blood and urine analysiswere also performed. For comparative analysis purposes, at the end of the experiment, sheep that developed obstructiveurolithiasis were extracted from the initial experimental group D1 (without urolithiasis) and moved to the second experimental group D2 (with urolithiasis). In the pre-experimental period and on the day of slaughter, venous blood was sampledfor hemogasometric tests, with a maximum time of 15 minutes between collection and analysis to ensure the reliability ofthe results obtained. The pH, pCO2, pO2, EB, tCO2, HCO3-, stHCO3-, tHb, sO2 and Hct, Na+, K+ and Ca2+ ions were quantified. To identify and measure immunoglobulins (A and G) and APP, samples from sheep that developed obstructive urolithiasis (D2) were analyzed. Blood samples were harvested weekly until the clinical...