Biochemical parameters of the amazonian manatee′s blood (Trichechus inunguis, Mammalia: Sirenia)

The blood biochemical and hematological parameters make possible to acquire information about the physiological situation of animals or their population, permitting in this way the diagnosis of possible pathologies. The objective of this work was to check the normal values of some biochemical parameters of the captive Amazonian manatee′s blood and compare them with other animals′. In this study, 10 Amazonian manatees kept in captivity in the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amaz nia, being fed with Angola herb. The blood collection was made in the morning, 24 hours after the animals′ feeding, the samples were centrifuged and had serum and plasma extracted therefore stored under -15o C. The biochemical analyses were made in a maximum period of 10 days after the collection, where LABTEST kits were applied to determine the concentrations of enzymatic glucose, total lipids, urea, total proteins and albumin. The globulins were checked by the subtraction of the albumin concentration from the total proteins concentration. The fractionation of the proteins was done by electrophoresis method, with barbital tampon, over one support made of cellulose acetate. Amongst the analyzed parameters were found the following averages: 43,3 mg/dl glucose; 543,6 mg/dl lipids; 29,3 mg/dl urea; 6,3 g/dl proteins; 3,5 g/dl albumin; 2,8 g/dl globulin. Some of them presented values similar to the obtained ones in marine manatees. Sedentary lifestyle and inadequate diet may have influenced results found in this study.