The Valuation of Blood and Tissue Enzymes for Clinical Diagnosis in New Zealand White and Rex Rabbits

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to standardize blood and tissue enzyme activities in New Zealand White (NZW) and Rex (REX) rabbits in order to contribute to clinical diagnosis. Fifteen healthy male NZW and REX rabbits at 8-week-old, respectively, were used to measure enzyme activities including alkaline phosphatase (ALP), γ-glutamyltransferase (GGT), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), creatine kinase (OK) and a-amylase (AMYL) in blood, liver, brain, heart, pancreas, spleen, kidney and thigh muscle. The blood from the REX had higher ALT and lower LDH and ALP activities than those from the NZW (P＜0.05). In tissue enzymes, the liver ALP spleen AMYL and kidney ALT activities were higher in the REX than those in the NZW (P＜0.05). Regarding to the tissue distributions of the enzymes, ALP (56-60%) and GGT (74-75%) were mainly present in kidney, and those should be an indicator of kidney damage. 86-93% of AMYL was found in pancreas, a specific enzyme should be used to aid diagnosis of pancreatic abnormalities.