Journal of Heredity Advance Access originally published online on December 8, 2006
Journal of Heredity 2006 97(6):549-554; doi:10.1093/jhered/esl041
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Heritable Components of Feline Hematology, Clinical Chemistry, and AcidBase Profiles
From the Nutrition Research Center, Nestle Purina Company, Checkerboard Square, St Louis, MO 63164 (Lawler); Information Technology Group, Nestle Purina Company, Checkerboard Square, St Louis, MO 63164 (Teckenbrock); and Department of Biology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112 (Chase and Lark)
Address correspondence to D. F. Lawler at the address above, or e-mail: dennis.lawler{at}rdmo.nestle.com.
Four erythrocyte variables (erythrocyte count, hemoglobin, mean cell volume, packed cell volume), 14 serum variables (alanine transferase, albumin, alkaline phosphatase, calcium, chloride, cholesterol, creatinine, glucose, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, total protein, triglycerides, urea nitrogen), and 7 venous acidbase variables (base excess, bicarbonate, carbon dioxide partial pressure, oxygen partial pressure, oxygen saturation, pH, and total carbon dioxide) were evaluated for heritability in domestic cats (Felis catus). Values used for individual cats were expressed as the mean over all lifetime measurements, using 444530 animals for clinical chemistry, 629 animals for acidbase, and 564 animals for erythrocyte metrics. Gender and age at death (where applicable) also were evaluated for correlation with variables. Heritabilities for clinical chemistry, acidbase, and erythrocyte variables ranged, respectively, from 0.13 to 0.78, from 0.23 to 0.59, and from 0.41 to 0.69 (P < 0.05). This result indicates that serum variability has a genetic basis and is segregating in this feline population. These findings may have important implications in both research and clinical medicine.