FERRET-SEARCH@LISTSERV.FERRETMAILINGLIST.ORG
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Date: | Thu, 25 Mar 2004 15:34:09 -0500 |
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Liver values, especially ALT, in ferrets can be thrown off badly by not
eating enough or by not eating often enough. If you go to
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
and open
Confusion and Controversy in Interpreting Ferret Clinical Pathology Data
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/Clin_Path/ClinPath.html
then scroll down you will find the info in the section which begins:
>Probably the most common misinterpretation that I see on a routine basis
>is in the area of hepatic enzymes. Remember, that the ferret, being by
>nature an obligate carnivore, has an extremely short digestive tract,
>and requires meals as often as every four to six hours. Should food not
>be available, it possesses the ability to quickly mobilize peripheral
>fat stores in order to meet energy requirements. When this physiologic
>mechanism is activated, the liver is literally flooded with fat, which
>results in hepatocellular swelling which may be marked. The result
>of this swelling is the leakage of membrane enzymes such as alanine
>aminotransferase, and as the hepatocellular swelling increases,
>occlusion of bile canaliculi occurs, resulting, over time, in elevation
>of alkaline phosphatase.
>
>In conjunction with this physiologic change, elevations of ALT up to
>800 mg/dl can be seen, and alkaline phosphatase up to approximately
>100 mg/dl. This often causes confusion to practitioners, who render
>an erroneous diagnosis of unspecified hepatic disease...
There is much more for you there!
[Posted in FML issue 4463]
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