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Journal of Dairy Science Vol. 30 No. 12 983-993
© 1947 by American Dairy Science Association ®
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Changes in Cell Volume and in Concentration of Hemoglobin and of Several Inorganic Constituents of the Blood of Calves during Early Postnatal Development1

G. H. Wise2, M. J. Caldwell3, D. B. Parrish, R. J. Flipse4 and J. S. Hughes

Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station, Manhattan

ABSTRACT

During the first 6 to 10 weeks of postnatal development of 11 normal calves, determination of hematocrit values and of hemoglobin levels in the blood and of the concentrations of several inorganic constituents in the blood and in the serum were made.

Hematocrit values and hemoglobin concentrations declined during the first 3 weeks after birth but gradually increased during the following 7 weeks.

Inorganic phosphorus of the blood serum increased from 6.7 mg./100 ml. at birth to 8.5 mg./100 ml. at 3 weeks, remaining relatively constant thereafter.

Calcium of the whole blood ranged from 8.5 mg./100 ml. to 9.4 mg./100 ml. but revealed no consistent trends, whereas in serum the level decreased slightly but steadily from 12.3 mg./100 ml. during the period of colostrum consumption to 10.6 mg./100 ml. at 5 weeks of age.

Magnesium of whole blood varied from 2.5 mg./100 ml. to 2.8 mg./100 ml., and of serum from 2.4 mg./100 ml. to 2.6 mg./100 ml., but the concentration in neither exhibited a definite trend as the calves developed.

Concentrations of sodium in the whole blood decreased slightly the first 2 weeks but increased to the initial level within the following 3 weeks, the extremes being 276 mg./100 ml. and 313 mg./100 ml.; similar general trends were noted in the serum in which the range in concentrations was 346 mg./100 ml. to 384 mg./100 ml.

Potassium of the whole blood declined steadily from an average of 141 mg./100 ml. at birth to an average of 53 mg./100 ml., the level in adult cattle, at 10 weeks; the concentrations in the serum exhibited little variation, ranging from 21 mg./100 ml. to 25 mg./100 ml.

A comparison of the levels of minerals in whole blood and in serum indicated that the concentrations of sodium and calcium were greater in serum than in the cells; whereas the reverse was true of potassium and magnesium.

Computations, based on hematocrit values, indicated that the amount of potassium in the cells predominated over that of sodium during the first 4 weeks of postnatal life; subsequently sodium concentrations predominated over potassium in the cellular fraction.

This investigation was supported in part by a grant from Moorman Mfg. Co., Quincy, Illinois.

The authors wish to express their appreciation to Mrs. Helen Hamlin and Mr. Roy Coleman for technical assistance in the analytical work.

FOOTNOTES

1 Contribution no. 172, Department of Dairy Husbandry, and no. 345, Department of Chemistry.

2 Present address, Department of Animal Husbandry, Iowa State College, Ames.

3 Present address, Moorman Mfg. Co., Quincy, Illinois.

4 Present address, Department of Dairy Husbandry, Michigan State College, East Lansing.






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Copyright © 1947 by the American Dairy Science Association ®.