Morphometric study of red blood cells in Sloughi and German Shepherd dogs

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to investigate the influence of the age, the sex and the breed on the diameter, the circumference and the surface area of red blood cells in the dog. Samples were taken from 88 local Sloughi and German shepherd dogs, and the morphometric study was done using OPTIKATM Vision Pro software. The obtained data indicated that the age and the sex had no influence on the three morphometric parameters of erythrocytes (P>0.05). However, the breed seemed to have a significant effect only on the diameter of erythrocytes, in this case: red blood cells of local Sloughi dogs were bigger than those of the German Shepherd (P<0.001). The breed had no influence on the circumference and surface area of ​​erythrocytes. This study allows us to propose new reference values ​​for the circumference and the surface of ​​erythrocytes in Sloughi and German Shepherd dogs; these both parameters appear most representative as to mark changes in the morphometry of red blood cells.