ACUTE PHASE PROTEIN AND ELECTROPHORESIS PROTEIN FRACTION VALUES FOR CAPTIVE AMERICAN FLAMINGOS (<i>PHOENICOPTERUS RUBER</i>)

Abstract

Protein electrophoresis has recognized applications in determining the health status of various species. While reference intervals for electrophoresis have been determined for psittacine and raptor species, there are none reported for Phoenicopteriformes species. Reference intervals for haptoglobin and protein fractions obtained by electrophoresis were determined for the American flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber) based on plasma samples from 39 captive birds. The reference intervals were as follows: haptoglobin, 0.17-0.8 mg/ml; total protein, 3.65-6.38 g/dl; prealbumin, 0.26-1.9 g/dl; albumin, 1.51-3.12 g/dl; α-1 globulin, 0.06-0.38 g/dl; α-2 globulin, 0.17-0.67 g/dl; β globulin, 0.38-1.33 g/dl; γ globulin, 0.26-0.68 g/dl; albumin : globulin ratio, 0.93-2.17. As captive flamingos often suffer from pododermatitis, feet of all flamingos were scored to determine if pododermatitis would be reflected in the acute phase proteins. Spearman rank correlation was performed on each of the protein fractions and pododermatitis scores, and only albumin had a significant correlation. This indicates that albumin, as a negative acute phase protein, may be a marker for this disease process.