Blood analytes of clinically normal and diseased neonatal and weaned farmed white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) fawns

Figures & data

Table 1. Mean, median, lower, and upper reference intervals for hematological analytes (90% confidence intervals [CI]) of clinically normal captive-raised neonatal white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in SI units.

Analyte	Descriptive statistics						95% RI
	Units	n	Mean	Median	Min	Max	Lower limit and 90% CI		Upper limit and 90% CI		Distribution
RBC	×10^12/L	84	8.73	8.47	4.90	12.5	5.77	5.38–6.26	11.5	11.0–12.1	P
HGB	g/dL	84	8.14	8.00	4.00	12.1	4.26	4.00–6.30	11.28	10.80–11.60	NP
HCT	%	84	27.6	27.0	16.0	42.0	16.30	16.0–22.1	36.8	35.0–42.0	NP
MCV	fL	84	31.7	31.0	28.0	41.0	28.1	28.0–29.0	38.9	35.9–41.0	NP
MCH	pg	84	9.4	9.5	7.0	12.0	7.0	7.0–7.0	12.0	11.0–12.0	NP
MCHC	%	84	29.5	30.0	23.0	36.0	24.0	23.0–24.1	33.0	33.0–36.0	NP
WBC	×10^9/L	84	2.85	2.70	0.50	7.55	0.74	0.58–0.93	6.36	5.60–7.08	NP, T
Absolute neutrophils	×10^9/L	79	2.08	1.94	0.36	4.78	0.33	ND–0.46	4.64	4.12–5.13	NP, T
Absolute lymphocytes	×10^9/L	80	0.66	0.53	0.13	2.21	0.18	0.15–0.22	1.61	1.31–1.89	NP, T
Absolute monocytes	×10^9/L	81	0.02	0.00	0.00	0.12	0.00	0.00–0.00	0.10	0.08–0.12	NP
Absolute eosinophils	×10^9/L	81	0.03	0.02	0.00	0.16	0.00	0.00–0.00	0.16	0.12–0.16	NP
Absolute basophils	×10^9/L	81	0.01	0.00	0.00	0.06	0.00	0.00–0.00	0.06	0.04–0.06	NP

RBC: red blood cell count; HGB: hemoglobin; HCT: hematocrit; MCV: mean corpuscular volume; MCH: mean corpuscular hemoglobin; MCHC: mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration; WBC: white blood cell count; P: parametric; NP: non-parametric.

Table 2. Mean, median, lower, and upper reference intervals (90% confidence intervals [CI]) for serum biochemical analytes for clinically normal captive-raised neonatal white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in SI units.

Analyte	Descriptive statistics						95% RI
	Units	n	Mean	Median	Min	Max	Lower limit and 90% CI		Upper limit and 90% CI		Distribution
Glucose	mmol/L	75	5.66	5.66	2.86	8.68	3.35	2.97–3.76	8.07	7.71–8.48	P
BUN	mmol/L	76	6.71	6.78	2.50	13.6	2.50	2.50–3.18	12.6	10.0–13.6	NP
Creatinine	µmol/L	76	93.7	88.4	53.0	168	53.0	53.0–61.9	168	160–168	NP
BUN: Crea	–	76	0.07	0.07	0.04	0.17	0.04	0.04–0.04	0.15	0.13–0.17	NP, T
Calcium	mmol/L	75	2.41	2.40	2.00	2.80	2.09	2.00–2.19	2.71	2.61–2.80	NP
Phosphorus	mmol/L	73	3.09	3.17	1.91	4.0	2.13	1.94–2.35	3.88	3.76–4.00	NP, T
Ca: P ratio	–	72	0.79	0.77	0.53	1.17	0.57	0.53–0.61	1.14	1.05–1.17	NP
Protein	g/L	75	56.9	55.0	37.0	93.0	37.9	3.70–42.0	77.7	72.0–93.0	NP
ALT	µkat/L	74	0.68	0.66	0.15	1.17	0.41	0.17–0.48	1.04	0.88–1.17	NP

BUN: blood urea nitrogen; Crea: creatinine; Ca: calcium; P: phosphorus; ALT: alanine aminotransferase.

Table 3. Mean, median, lower, and upper reference intervals for blood analytes (90% confidence intervals [CI]) for clinically normal captive-raised weanling white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in SI units.

Analyte	Descriptive statistics						95% RI
	Units	n	Mean	Median	Min	Max	Lower limit and 90% CI		Upper limit and 90% CI		Distribution
RBC	×10^12/L	28	18.4	19.2	10.5	24.3	10.5	8.56–12.5	26.4	24.3–28.5	P
HGB	g/dL	25	14.7	14.7	10.7	19.2	10.5	9.50–11.7	18.8	17.7–20.0	P
HCT	%	28	53.9	56.5	31.0	69.0	22.5	ND–37.2	71.3	68.0–73.9	NP, T
MCV	fL	28	29.3	29.0	28.0	30.0	–	–	–	–	–
MCH	pg	28	7.5	7.0	6.0	9.0	–	–	–	–	–
MCHC	%	28	25.3	25.0	20	30	20.1	18.9–21.4	30.4	29.0–31.7	P
WBC	×10^9/L	27	3.46	3.50	1.6	6.0	0.99	0.39–1.62	5.92	5.25–6.57	P
Absolute neutrophils	×10^9/L	28	1.51	1.15	0.51	3.36	0.45	0.40–0.55	3.90	2.80–4.99	NP, T
Absolute lymphocytes	×10^9/L	28	1.92	1.83	0.70	3.62	0.56	0.45–0.78	3.92	3.28–4.61	NP, T
Absolute monocytes	×10^9/L	28	0.02	0.00	0.00	0.08	–	–	–	–	–
Absolute eosinophils	×10^9/L	28	0.13	0.09	0.00	0.49	0.000	ND–0.01	0.46	0.32–0.68	NP, T
Absolute basophils	×10^9/L	28	0.004	0.000	0.0	0.04	–	–	–	–	–

RBC: red blood cell count; HGB: hemoglobin; HCT: hematocrit; MCV: mean corpuscular volume; MCH: mean corpuscular hemoglobin; MCHC: mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration; WBC: white blood cell count; P: parametric; NP: non-parametric; T: Box-Cox transformed data.

Table 4. Mean, median, lower, and upper reference intervals (90% confidence intervals [CI]) for serum biochemical analytes for clinically normal captive-raised weanling white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in SI units.

Analyte	Descriptive statistics						95% RI
	Units	n	Mean	Median	Min	Max	Lower limit and 90% CI		Upper limit and 90% CI		Distribution
Glucose	mmol/L	26	8.64	8.63	5.10	11.65	5.57	4.68–6.48	11.75	10.8–12.6	P
BUN	mmol/L	26	8.28	8.21	5.35	10.4	4.64	3.63–5.85	11.03	10.4–11.5	NP, T
Creatinine	µmol/L	26	104	97.2	79.6	141	69.9	61.5–78.8	138	128–147	P
BUN:Crea	–	25	0.08	0.08	0.06	0.12	0.05	0.05–0.06	0.13	0.11–0.15	NP, T
Calcium	mmol/L	26	2.64	2.60	2.50	2.80	–	–	–	–	–
Phosphorus	mmol/L	26	3.14	3.18	2.10	3.91	2.12	1.86–2.42	4.20	3.95–4.48	P
Ca:P	–	26	0.86	0.83	0.66	1.29	0.65	0.63–0.68	1.27	1.11–1.45	NP, T
Protein	g/L	26	58.3	58.2	53.0	65.0	50.8	48.8–52.5	65.5	63.1–67.3	P
ALT	µkat/L	26	1.33	1.30	0.77	1.79	0.75	0.62–0.90	1.90	1.74–2.04	P

BUN: blood urea nitrogen; Crea: creatinine; Ca: calcium; P: phosphorus; ALT: alanine aminotransferase.

Table 5. Hematological reference intervals for neonatal captive-raised white-tailed deer (WTD; Odocoileus virginianus) established in our study, as compared to those established for WTD in previous studies.

Analyte	Units	Our study, neonates	Our study, weanlings	Johnson et al. for penned neonate WTD	Seal and Erickson (1969) for juvenile WTD
WBC	×10^9/L	0.74–6.36	0.99–5.92	–	–
RBC	×10^12/L	5.77–11.5	10.5–26.4	7.11–8.51	9.6–13.6
HGB	g/dL	4.26–11.28	10.5–18.8	7.6–9.2	10.4–16.3
HCT	%	16.3–36.8	22.5–71.3	29.1–32.7	32.4–48.6
MCV	fL	28.1–38.9	–	37.4–42.6	30.7–39.6
MCH	pg	7.0–12.0	–	11.4–13.4	–
MCHC	%	24.0–33.0	20.1–30.4	23.8–31	31.3–34.9
Absolute neutrophils	×10^9/L	0.33–4.64	0.45–3.90	–	–
Absolute lymphs	×10^9/L	0.18–1.61	–	–	–
Absolute monocytes	×10^9/L	0–0.01	–	–	–
Absolute eosinophils	×10^9/L	0–0.16	0–0.46	–	–
Absolute basophils	×10^9/L	0–0.06	–	–	–

RBC: red blood cell count; HGB: hemoglobin; HCT: hematocrit; MCV: mean corpuscular volume; MCH: mean corpuscular hemoglobin; MCHC: mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration; WBC: white blood cell count; P: parametric; NP: non-parametric; T: Box-Cox transformed data.

Table 6. Serum biochemical reference intervals for neonatal captive-raised white-tailed deer (WTD; Odocoileus virginianus) were established in this study, as compared to those established for WTD in previous studies.

Analyte	Units	Our study, neonates	Our study, weanlings	Johnson et al. for penned neonate WTD	Smith et al. for WTD fawns
Glucose	mmol/L	3.35–8.07	5.57–11.75	5.66–7.74	1.85–13.2
BUN	mmol/L	2.50–12.6	4.64–11.03	–	5.64–13.32
Creatinine	µmol/L	53.0–168	69.9–138	–	70.7–286
BUN:Crea	–	0.04–0.15	0.05–0.13	–	–
Calcium	mmol/L	2.09–2.71	–	–	2.30–3.03
Phosphorus	mmol/L	2.13–3.88	2.12–4.20	–	2.36–5.98
Protein	g/L	37.9–77.7	50.8–65.5	46–62	58–85
ALT	µkat/L	0.17–1.04	0.75–1.90	–	–

BUN: blood urea nitrogen; Crea: creatinine; Ca: calcium; P: phosphorus; ALT: alanine aminotransferase.

Figure 1. Box plots of all significantly different blood analytes resulting from the comparison between neonatal and weanling white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) fawns by age. WBC: white blood cell count; RBC: red blood cell count; HGB: hemoglobin; HCT: hematocrit; MCV: mean cell volume; MCH: mean corpuscular hemoglobin; MCHC: mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration; BUN: blood nitrogen urea; Ca: calcium; P: phosphorus; ALT: alanine aminotransferase.

Figure 2. Box plots showing blood analytes that were significantly different in captive-raised female (F) neonatal white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) compared to males (M). RBC: red blood cell count; HGB: hemoglobin; HCT: hematocrit.

Table 7. Summary of chi-squared, degrees of freedom, p-values, and conditional R² values from linear mixed effects models of blood analytes in white-tailed deer fawns.

	Age	Health status	Sex	R^2c
WBC	χ² = 7.2780, df = 1, p = 0.00698	χ² = 3.2216, df = 2, p = 0.19973	χ² = 0.3406, df = 1, p = 0.55951	0.46
RBC	χ² = 425.4980, df = 1, p = <2.2e-16	χ² = 2.3245, df = 2, p = 0.312779	χ² = 7.6249, df = 1, p = 0.005757	0.87
HGB	χ² = 133.8264, df = 1, p = <2e-16	χ² = 3.0334, df = 2, p = 0.21944	χ² = 5.9537, df = 1, p = 0.01469	0.68
HCT	χ² = 328.1243, df = 1, p = <2.2e-16	χ² = 2.1061, df = 2, p = 0.348873	χ² = 7.5032, df = 1, p = 0.006159	0.83
Lymphocytes	χ² = 90.1337, df = 1, p = <2e-16	χ² = 2.8732, df = 2, p = 0.2377	χ² = 1.2294, df = 1, p = 0.2675	0.56
Glucose	χ² = 94.3298, df = 1, p = <2e-16	χ² = 2.0010, df = 2, p = 0.3677	χ² = 1.1164, df = 1, p = 0.2907	0.61
Creatinine	χ² = 3.3119, df = 1, p = 0.06878	χ² = 1.8296, df = 2, p = 0.40059	χ² = 0.4807, df = 1, p = 0.48812	0.10
BUN:Creatinine	χ² = 2.5632, df = 1, p = 0.1094	χ² = 0.2315, df = 2, p = 0.8907	χ² = 0.0223, df = 1, p = 0.8814	0.17
Ca	χ² = 54.8351, df = 1, p = 1.311e-13	χ² = 3.3597, df = 2, p = 0.1864	χ² = 0.2509, df = 1, p = 0.6164	0.43
P	χ² = 0.9946, df = 1, p = 0.3186	χ² = 0.3864, df = 2, p = 0.8243	χ² = 0.0000, df = 1, p = 0.9997	0.07
Ca:P	χ² = 4.4522, df = 1, p = 0.03486	χ² = 0.3026, df = 2, p = 0.85959	χ² = 0.1446, df = 1, p = 0.70374	0.07
Total Protein	χ² = 1.1434, df = 1, p = 0.2849	χ² = 1.9071, df = 2, p = 0.3854	χ² = 0.0260, df = 1, p = 0.8718	0.17
ALT	χ² = 171.6989, df = 1, p = <2e-16	χ² = 0.9732, df = 2, p = 0.6147	χ² = 0.5797, df = 1, p = 0.4464	0.69

RBC: red blood cell count; HGB: hemoglobin; HCT: hematocrit; MCV: mean corpuscular volume; MCH: mean corpuscular hemoglobin; MCHC: mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration; WBC: white blood cell count.

Significant coefficients are indicated in bold.

Seal US, Erickson AW. 1969. Hematology, blood chemistry and protein polymorphisms in the white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus). Comp Biochem Physiol. 30(4):695–713. doi: 10.1016/0010-406x(69)92149-5.

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