Chemistry

Azotemia is is a laboratory abnormality and is defined as an increase in urea nitrogen and/or creatinine, due to decreased renal excretion. It can result from a variety of disorders including, reduced  blood  flow to the kidneys with hypovolemia, urinary tract obstruction  and renal disease. Uremia is the term for the clinical syndrome of renal failure with azotemia […]

The kidney has many roles, including: Elimination of metabolic waste: Function of the glomeruli Fluid, electrolyte and acid-base balance: Function of the tubules. Conservation of nutrients: Glucose, amino acids – function of tubules Glucose: This is freely filtered through an intact glomerulus and resorbed in the proximal convoluted tubules (PCT) by Na-dependent carrier transport mechanisms (sodium-glucose cotransporters

Failure of transfer of passive immunity (FTPI) is a major cause of neonatal infectious disease and mortality in foals, calves and crias. These species are hypogammaglobulinemic or agammaglobulinemic at birth and depend on transfer of immunoglobulins from maternal colostrum until they can produce their own immunoglobulins. This takes approximately 10-14 days in the foal and

Immunoglobulins are produced by B lymphocytes and plasma cells. They are considered delayed response proteins as they take 1-3 weeks to increase in response to inflammation or antigenic stimulation. Immunoglobulins are composed of two heavy chains of the same class (eg. IgG, IgM or IgA) and two light chains (either κ or λ). An increase

The Albumin to Globulin ratio (A:G) is the ratio of albumin present in serum in relation to the amount of globulin. The ratio can be interpreted only in light of the total protein concentration. Very generally speaking, the normal ratio in most species approximates 1:1. For example, high total protein with a normal A:G ratio

Iron is a trace element that is essential for life, being required for important cell processes such as DNA synthesis, energy production and defense. Many different structural and enzymatic proteins contain iron, which is essential to their function. In some of these proteins, iron (in the ferrous or Fe2+ form) is found in the center of

Lipid metabolism involves the interactions of lipoproteins, which enable the transport of lipids (triglycerides) in the circulation and uptake by tissues via specific receptors, and hormones that modify lipoproteins or control fat synthesis or breakdown. There are several different lipoproteins, with the main ones being chylomicrons (CM), very low density lipoproteins (VLDL), low density lipoproteins

Portal venous-systemic venous shunting of blood impairs delivery of portal substances to the liver. Shunting of this sort can occur as a result of congenital vascular anomalies (portosystemic shunts or portosystemic vascular anomalies, microvascular dysplasia), congenital defects in ductal plate formation (resulting in acquired shunts [Pilai et al 2016]) or secondary to acquired defects, such

Ferritin is a large protein shell (MW 450,000, apoferritin) comprised of 24 subunits, covering an iron core containing up to 4000 atoms of iron. Apoferritin with bound iron (=ferritin) is the storage form of iron in cells and most readily available for use when needed. Ferritin is considered a better indicator of total body iron

Fecal occult blood refers to a test that is done on feces to detect bleeding into the gastrointestinal tract. It is particularly used to detect upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage, i.e. melena (or digested blood), which can be more difficult to see grossly (i.e. occult) versus undigested frank blood from lower intestinal or colonic hemorrhage in feces,