Serum total protein and albumin levels in grazing sheep

Authors: Roil MR, Mattingley J, Suckling GW
Publication: New Zealand Veterinary Journal, Volume 22, Issue 12, pp 232-236, Dec 1974
Publisher: Taylor and Francis

Animal type: Livestock, Production animal, Ruminant, Sheep
Subject Terms: Clinical pathology, Diagnostic procedures, Nutrition/metabolism, Pasture/crop, Protein
Article class: Scientific Article

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Abstract: The interpretation of biochemical measurements usually requires knowledge of the normal as a reference point. It has been usual to take specimens from a group of individuals presumed to be healthy and to express as normal the range, or mean and standard deviation, found for those subjects. It is now well established for humans that reputable normal values, reference points and valid conclusions cannot be established nor drawn from a small number of supposedly healthy individuals. Due regard must be taken of a number of factors, some controllable and some not, that influence biological variation: race, age, sex, stage of breedmg cycle, time of day, season and the technical variables method of sampling, how the specimen is handled, method of analysis and standard of analytical performance. The interpretation of laboratory results in animal studies are equally dependent, as in humans, on a knowledge of normal values. However, much of the animal literature appears today to be in a situation comparable with that of the human of 10 years ago interpretative normal values based on inadequate sampling with insufficient regard for the influence of variables…

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