Determination of plasma fibrinogen concentration in the horse.

This research article compares different methods to measure the concentration of plasma fibrinogen in horses, and recommends the method of Millar et al as being more accurate. The paper further establishes plasma fibrinogen levels as potential indicators of certain diseases in horses.

Methodological Comparison

• The research critically compares three methods of determining plasma fibrinogen concentrations in horses. These include the microhematocrit heat-precipitation method by Millar et al from 1971, the microhematocrit heat-precipitation method by Schalm et al from 1975, and the clottable protein method by Ratnoff and Menzie from 1951.
• Upon comparing the methodologies, the study found that the method developed by Millar et al provided more precise and accurate results. This method also showed a stronger positive correlation with the Ratnoff and Menzie’s clottable protein method, which was considered the reference method in this study.

Plasma Fibrinogen Concentration Across Breeds

• The research also investigates if there were significant differences in the plasma fibrinogen concentration of healthy Thoroughbreds and other breeds of horses.
• The study found no significant variance in the fibrinogen concentration between these groups, suggesting that plasma fibrinogen levels may not be influenced by breed.

Disease Correlation

• The research examines the plasma fibrinogen levels in horses suffering from different diseases such as bacterial pneumonia, abscesses, colic, fractures, and nonsuppurative wounds.
• Horses with bacterial pneumonia and abscesses had significantly greater plasma fibrinogen values compared to those with colic, fractures, and nonsuppurative wounds.
• This suggests that plasma fibrinogen concentration might serve as a useful diagnostic and prognostic indicator for certain diseases in horses, supporting the use of the Millar et al method for measuring it.

Recommendation

• Given its precision, accuracy, and correlation with certain diseases, this research endorses the Millar et al method as a simple and relatively accurate procedure for determining plasma fibrinogen concentration. This method could be used as an additional diagnostic and prognostic tool in the laboratory analysis of diseases in horses.