Dynamic surface tension measurements as general approach to the analysis of animal blood plasma and serum

Abstract

This review summarizes a current state of knowledge regarding surface tension methods of the analysis of animal blood plasma and serum as the major biological liquids. The fundamental information on general properties of the biological liquids (animal blood, urea, milk, etc.) is important in many aspects: animal nutrition, health assessment, physiological control, quality of livestock production, etc. The comparison of the major methods of the static and dynamic surface tension (DST) measurements of various liquids is presented. The comprehensive analysis of some colloid properties of animal biological liquids, including the study of the DST parameters (surface tension values at particular time intervals, tilts of the tensiograms) and the protein–lipid–salt content, is proposed. Strong or medium positive (negative) correlations between DST and biochemical parameters (content of total and particular proteins, lipids, etc.) are obtained and discussed for a few animal groups (fillies, mares, stallions, bulls, heifers, pregnant and lactating cows) for the first time. The data obtained highlight the importance of the particular balances and vital functions of the main components in such an important biological liquid as blood plasma. The reliability of the correlations between the DST and the biochemical parameters of animal blood samples under normal and particular physiological conditions (age, gender, pregnancy, lactation period, etc.) is shown. The database of the DST values will be useful in fundamental areas (colloid and physical chemistry, bioorganic and biological chemistry, animal biology, and ecology), as well as in practice (animal medicine and biotechnology, dairy and meat production, etc.).