Exam 1: Lecture 1

Question 0

green top blood tube

Answer 0

lithium heparin

Question 1

purple top blood tube

Answer 1

K EDTA

Question 2

blue top

Answer 2

citrate co-ag

Question 3

yellow top tube (with and without separator)

Answer 3

serum separator

Question 4

what 3 interfering substances within a sample cause analytical error?

Answer 4

hemolysis - red/pink: caused by free hemoglobin in the blood, seen when animal is dying
lipemia - pink: gives you false readings on all your electrolytes
increased bilirubin - yellow: extra pigment will cause artificial inflation of test values

Question 5

hemolysis and main intercellular ion of RBCs

Answer 5

the main intercellular ion in RBCs is K. when many RBCs are lysed in solution you will have a lot of K.

Question 6

rouleaux

Answer 6

when RBCs stack like coins caused by excess fibrinogen and protein

Question 7

agglutination

Answer 7

when RBCs clump together due to excess immunoglobulins and complement - never cool. this happens when body is attacking its own RBCs.

Question 8

Lipemia

Answer 8

occurs in a blood sample when animal has not been fasted. it can dilute out your electrolytes (Na, K, Cl). This is bad bc if your K reaches a certain level, it will cause cardiac distress.

Question 9

whats in the buffy coat of an HCT tube?

Answer 9

leukocytes and platelets

Question 10

what is fibrinogen?

Answer 10

an acute phase protein; which means during inflammatory response it goes up.

• its present in plasma, not serum (bc its used up during the clotting processes)
• this is especially important in large animals bc they dont have as dramatic of a nucleophilic response and therefore depend on fibrinogen more than small animal

Question 11

petechiae

Answer 11

little spots of hemmorhage on inner ear, ventrum, etc. tells you there is a little hemorrhage going on

Question 12

pupura

Answer 12

spots of hemorrhage that can be up to a cm in diameter (a little bigger than petichae)

Question 13

ecchymosis

Answer 13

bigger areas of hemmorhage

Question 14

plasma

Answer 14

liquid portion of the blood after its spun. its mostly water.

• you will give patients transfusions to give the patient clotting factors and to inhibit the activation of the co ag cascade, usually done in an emergency

Question 15

what two coag factors come together to form a clot?

Answer 15

2 = thrombin 1 = fibrin

Question 16

PCV

Answer 16

packed cell volume: a measure of the spun RBCs

SAME AS HCT!!

Roughly between 30 - 50%

plasma color: dogs and cats should be colorless, horses and bovines: colorless or pale yellow

Question 17

MCV

Answer 17

mean cell volume - describes the average SIZE of RBCs

dogs have the largest RBC
goats have tiny RBC

Question 18

RDW - red cell distribution width

Answer 18

describes how much variation there is in RBC size

a high RDW means you have a ton of little tiny and really big RBC

Question 19

MCHC

Answer 19

mean cell hemoglobin concentration = ratio of the hemoglobin to the number of RBCs

(Hgb / PCV) x 100

decreased MCHC (hypochromic) can be caused by: regenerative anemia and Fe deficiency
increased MCHC (hyperchromic) can be caused by: ALWAYS an artifact caused by hemolysis or interference with Hgb measurement due to: lipemia, heinz bodies and very extreme WBC elevation

Question 20

things that will mess up MCHC (cause an increased MCHC)

Answer 20

indicative of hemolysis caused by:

1. lipemia
2. heinz bodies
3. ver high WBCs

Question 21

things that can cause errors in blood cell measurements:

Answer 21

1. hemolysis
2. lipemia
3. heinz bodies
4. nucleated erythrocytes (will increase your WBC count)
5. Pb toxicity

Question 22

how do you calculate a corrected leukocyte count?

Answer 22

corrected WBC count = (measured WBC count x 100) /100 + nRBC

where nRBC = number of nRBC /100 WBCs

ex: dog has 50 nRBC /100 WBC and measured WBC count of 9000/ml
corrected WBC count = (9000 x 100) /150 = 6000/ml

Question 23

difference between a nRBC and a lymphocyte

Answer 23

an nRBC is nucleated but will have a complete rim of cytoplasm and the cytoplasm is more eosinophilic. a lymphocyte is little cytoplasm at all.

Question 24

when you can trust a machine with cat platelets?

Answer 24

NEVER!

Question 25

exam Q: a cat has no platelets, what should you do?

Answer 25

make a BLOOD SMEAR to check, bc you can NEVER trust an automated analyzer.

bc cat platelets are huge and like to clump

Question 26

when do you use a new methylene blue stain?

Answer 26

reticulocytes

heinz bodies

Question 27

chronic inflammatory disease or Fe deficiency anemia and prussian blue stains

Answer 27

anytime you have inflammation, the body will hide iron in the liver, spleen or bone marrow bc the body thinks you have a bacterial infection. however this will prevent you from being able to utilize iron to make hemoglobin

Question 28

water artifact

Answer 28

tap water is refractile meaning that as you focus up and down on teh cell, the artifact “flashes” in one plane of focus, it may appear dar, while in another plane it appears light.

Question 29

where to read on a blood slide

Answer 29

NOT the feathered edge. you want to read in the middle on the “monolayer” where 50% of the blood cells are touching. where you can see the rainbow sheen