Investigation of the Effect of Age and Gender on Hematologic Parameters in Neonatal Foals

Background: The process of adaptation to life outside the uterus is known to be a critical period in neonatal foals. Several studies have shown that there are significant changes in the physiological parameters of foals during this period. In this study, the changes in hematologic parameters in thoroughbred foals (n=35) at postnatal days 1 and 4 and possible differences between genders were investigated. Methods: This study consisted of blood samples obtained from female (n=11) and male (n=24) thoroughbred foals whose healthy pregnancy processes were followed and no pathology was observed at birth. Blood samples were collected on the 1st and 4th postnatal days. All foals included in the study (n=35) were randomly selected from among healthy individuals with IgG levels above 800 mg/dL, which were measured to determine the immune levels of the foals and did not show any signs of disease in clinical examinations. In this study, white blood cell (WBC), neutrophil (NEU), lymphocyte (LYM), monocyte (MONO), eosinophil (EOS), basophil (BASO), red blood cell (RBC), hemoglobin (Hb), hematocrit (PCV), mean cell volume (MCV), mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH), mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC), platelets (PLT) and red blood cell distribution width (RDW) were examined according to gender and age. Result: It was determined that there were significant differences in hematologic parameters between different age groups of same genders. While there was a significant difference in neutrophil percentages only in the 4-day-old age group, there was no statistically significant difference in other parameters.