DETERMINATION OF HBA1C IN NORMAL CONFIGURATION DOGS AND ITS IMPORTANCE IN MANAGEMENT OF DIABETES

Amoli EJ, Pourkabireh MA

Red blood cells are non insulin dependent. Intracellular glucose will be increased by facilitated diffusion after an increase in plasma glucose. When combined with hemoglobin in the red cells a non-enzymatic reaction will produce HbA1c. This reaction happens slowly and irrevocably in the 90-110 days of a red cell's lifetime. HbA1c can therefore be a suitable indication of the long term control of diabetes. It might also be used for early detection of the chronic damages secondary to diabetes. We did two separately studies for determination of HbA1c in normal dogs. In the first study, whole blood samples were taken from 26 dogs (16 males and 10 females). The HbA1c column procedure, based on the ion exchange microchromatographic method, was used. Mean and SD in the whole samples were respectively 7.03% and 1.02%. There was no significant difference between the male and female groups. In the second study, whole blood samples were taken from 45 dogs (30 males and 15 females) and measured with prepared colorimetric kits. Mean and SD in the samples were respectively 5.69% and 0.95%. There was no significant difference in HbA1c between males and females (P=0.3570) nor between age groups (P=0.6555). According to these results, the values were specific to each method, so there is no problem in the clinical interpretation of results with respect to the method.