Exam 1: Lecture 5 Flashcards
(36 cards)
increased MCV tells you what?
regenerative anemia
MCV formula
(HCT / RBC count) x 10
some interesting MCV species characteristics
dogs have the biggest RBCs (highest MCV), chickens are big too, goats are tiny!
MCHC tells you what?
average amount of Hgb in RBCs
MCV tells you what?
size of RBCs
what 3 things will artifactually increase your MCHC (hyperchromic) <– no such thing!
- lipemia
- heinz bodies
- intravascular hemolysis
what will cause MCHC to decrease?
Fe deficiency anemia
macrocytosis
= big RBCs
how do you describe an anemia with lots of young RBCs?
macrocytic
what is persistent hypernatremia (dogs and cats)?
when isotonic fluid rushes into the RBCs bc they contain more solute and are thus hypertonic relative to the solution in the analyzer. this will dilute out your Hgb and make RBCs look bigger.
what is spurious macrocytosis and what causes it?
things that artifactually increase your MCV:
- prolonged blood storage before assay (sitting in salt)
- persistent hypernatremia
if you have chronic definiciency anemia, what type of anemia will you have?
microcytic, hypochromic anemia
what things cause microcytosis in animals?
- chronic iron deficiency anemia
- portosystemic shunts
- anemia of inflammatory disease
- some japanese dog breeds
- copper deficiency
what type of anemia do you see with portosystemic shunts? why?
microcytic, normochromic
- when you have a disease in the liver, it messes up your lipid metabolism. so your RBCs wont be formed right, they will be smaller.
- it is normochromic bc you are not losing any iron
- you just have a smaller cell bc your liver is messed up bc you arent getting adequate blood flow to the liver
why does Cu deficiency cause microcytosis in large animals?
bc you need Cu to utilize Fe properly in the gut. this only applies to large animal, not small animal
what type of anemia do you see with chronic inflammatory disease? why?
normocytic, normochromic
you can have a mild microcytosis in chronic inflammatory diseae. but typically fi the body undergoes chronic inflammation, the body thinks there is some bacterial inflammation and will sequester its iron (in liver, bone marrow, spleen). so now the body cant use iron to make hemoglobin which causes microcytosis
spurious microcytosis in animals
salt content of blood can affect how RBC looks. when sitting in high salt it will make water rush out of cell and make it look like a spheroechinocyte
what causes high MCHC values? what is it called? is it real?
- lipemia
- heinz bodies
- intravascular hemolysis
hyperchromia
NOT REAL!
Exam Q: What causes low MCHC? what is it called?
Fe deficiency anemia - can’t make enough Hgb
hypochromic
Red cell distribution width - what does it mean when its wide?
what is the signifiance
there are a lot of big and small RBCs in the blood. should always look at blood film if its big
means you have regenerative anemia!
is it normal to have a big RDW in large animals?
yes, particularly bovines bc they have a ton of anisocytosis (cells of unequal size)
what are some causes of increased RDW?
- Fe deficiency anemia with increased microcytes
- erythrocyte fragmentation
iron metabolism: whats important to remember?
iron is an oxidizing agent. if you have too much, it will start to oxidize everything and turn your blood to rust. the amount we have is kept in Hgb
what do serum concentrations look like with hemolytic anemia?
in hemolytic anemia, you lyse all your RBCs in circulation so you would have INCREASED serum iron concentration and INCREASED serum Hgb concentration
