Acta Vet. Brno 2008, 77: 163-174

https://doi.org/10.2754/avb200877020163

Blood Cell Morphology and Plasma Biochemistry of Captive Mauremys caspica (Gmelin, 1774) and Mauremys rivulata (Valenciennes, 1833)

K. Metin1, Y. Başimoğlu Koca1, F. Kargin Kiral2, S. Koca1, O. Türkozan1

1Department of Biology, Faculty of Science and Arts
2Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Adnan Menderes University, Aydin, Turkey

Received February 9, 2007
Accepted February 14, 2008

Morphological characteristics of peripheral blood cells, micronucleated erythrocyte counts and plasma biochemistry profile were examined in fourteen healthy captive Mauremys caspica and in twenty-three Mauremys rivulata. The size of erythrocyte cells were 19.07 × 11.68 μm and 19.76 × 11.44 μm for M. caspica and M. rivulata, respectively. Nucleus sizes were 6.50 × 5.30 μm for M. caspica and 6.79 × 5.45 μm for M. rivulata. The micronucleated erythrocyte (MNE) values were 0.0008 and 0.0037 for the males and females of M. caspica, respectively. The MNE values were 0.0002 for male and female M. rivulata. We found sex-dependent differences only in the Ca value in the blood biochemistry profile for healthy M. caspica. Sex-dependent differences were found only in albumin and P values in the blood biochemistry profile for healthy M. rivulata. No significant differences were found between males of both species in question with respect to plasma biochemistry values. However, only plasma total protein and Ca content levels differed significantly between the females of the two species.