Evaluation of the cellular and extracellular fluid of the body of calves using bio impedancemetry

Abstract

Currently, non‐invasive animal research methods continue to develop, one of which is bioelectrical impedance analysis to determine the body's water, fat, fat‐free, and cell mass, which reflects the assessment of the body's liquids. The electrical and biological significance of impedance analysis lies in the fact that the measurement of the resistance (impedance) of the body's tissues or fluids changes during exposure to alternating currents of different frequencies and makes it possible to take into account the totality of resistance or the actual difference between two measurements taken in succession. The research object was newborn calves, healthy (G1) and with enteritis (G2), selected according to the principle of analogs, 15 animals in each group. The impedance measurements were studied using the “BICA” device (body impedance composition analyzer). Enteritis in calves is accompanied by a significant loss of electrolytes and free fluid, affecting normal metabolic processes. In this regard, the study of the liquids of the body of healthy and enteritis‐sick calves was the main goal of the research. The first signs of enteritis appeared more often on the second and third days of life. In G2: a decrease in motor activity, hunchback (calves do not lean well on the chest limbs, the head is lowered down) were shown, a decrease in the sucking reflex, retraction of the eyeballs into the orbits, low skin turgor, a red border on the gums under the arcade of the incisors. Feces in sick calves are unformed, watery, gray‐yellow in color, with a pungent, sour odor. On the tenth day of life in calves with enteritis, the total body fluid decreased, and this indicator was 1.5 times lower than in healthy calves (P <0.01). The decrease in the total body fluid volume mainly occurred due to a decrease in the level of intracellular fluid, which in sick animals was 2.8 times lower than in healthy animals (p <0.001). At the same time, the level of extracellular fluid in calves from the G1 and the G2 did not differ significantly and amounted to 7.9 ± 0.8% and 6.28 ± 1.0%, respectively. After the treatment (diet therapy and enroxil 5%, intramuscularly, at a dose of 1 ml per 20 kg of body weight once a day for 3 days) by the age of twenty days, the volume of total body fluid in calves with enteritis recovered and did not significantly differ from the level in healthy animals. There were no significant differences in the volume of extracellular fluid in the calves of both groups. However, as for the intracellular fluid volume, this indicator in recovered calves was still significantly lower (P <0.05) than in healthy animals and amounted to 12.14 ± 1.0% and 15.48 ± 0, 7% respectively. Thus, from the data obtained, it can be seen that fluid loss occurs mainly due to the intracellular fluid with enteritis in calves. Complete recovery of the liquid sectors in calves was observed only by the age of one month.