Comparison of African savanna elephant (Loxodonta africana) fatty acid profiles in whole blood, whole blood dried on blood spot cards, serum, and plasma
Background African elephants in managed care have presented differences in the balance between omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, a situation primarily thought to be due to dietary differences between the managed animals and their free-ranging counterparts. Because of this, circulating fatty acid stat...
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PeerJ Inc.
2021-12-01
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| Online Access: | https://peerj.com/articles/12650.pdf |
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| author | Jordan Wood Larry J. Minter Doug Bibus Michael K. Stoskopf Vivek Fellner Kimberly Ange-van Heugten |
| author_facet | Jordan Wood Larry J. Minter Doug Bibus Michael K. Stoskopf Vivek Fellner Kimberly Ange-van Heugten |
| author_sort | Jordan Wood |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background African elephants in managed care have presented differences in the balance between omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, a situation primarily thought to be due to dietary differences between the managed animals and their free-ranging counterparts. Because of this, circulating fatty acid status is included in routine monitoring of elephant health. A method of blood collection that requires only a few drops of whole blood, dried on filter paper (DBS) and can be used for analyzing full fatty acid profiles offers advantages in clinical application. Methods This study compared the use of whole blood, and whole blood DBS, serum or plasma for use in evaluating circulating fatty acid composition in African savannah elephants. Samples from six African elephants (two males and four females) were collected during the same week at the NC Zoo, Asheboro, NC. Results Results found only 2 of 36 individual fatty acids and none of the 10 fatty acid groupings were different when comparing the four blood fraction sample types to each other with Mann-Whitney U-Test pairwise comparisons. Myristic acid (14:0) was lower in the DBS samples than in whole blood, serum, and plasma and pentadecaenoic acid (15:1) was slightly more concentrated in DBS and whole blood. Discussion Results indicate that fatty acid profile of serum, plasma, whole blood, and DBS are comparable in African elephants. The DBS method offers advantages in acquisition and handling and may be preferable to other methods in both routine health assessment of captive animals and field research on free ranging animals. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T06:37:11Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-5eed5a7082d5401ca641606841644d4b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2167-8359 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T06:37:11Z |
| publishDate | 2021-12-01 |
| publisher | PeerJ Inc. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PeerJ |
| spelling | doaj.art-5eed5a7082d5401ca641606841644d4b2023-12-03T10:56:12ZengPeerJ Inc.PeerJ2167-83592021-12-019e1265010.7717/peerj.12650Comparison of African savanna elephant (Loxodonta africana) fatty acid profiles in whole blood, whole blood dried on blood spot cards, serum, and plasmaJordan Wood0Larry J. Minter1Doug Bibus2Michael K. Stoskopf3Vivek Fellner4Kimberly Ange-van Heugten5Animal Science, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, United States of AmericaEnvironmental Medicine Consortium and Department of Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, United States of AmericaLipid Technologies LLC, Austin, MN, United States of AmericaEnvironmental Medicine Consortium and Department of Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, United States of AmericaAnimal Science, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, United States of AmericaAnimal Science, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, United States of AmericaBackground African elephants in managed care have presented differences in the balance between omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, a situation primarily thought to be due to dietary differences between the managed animals and their free-ranging counterparts. Because of this, circulating fatty acid status is included in routine monitoring of elephant health. A method of blood collection that requires only a few drops of whole blood, dried on filter paper (DBS) and can be used for analyzing full fatty acid profiles offers advantages in clinical application. Methods This study compared the use of whole blood, and whole blood DBS, serum or plasma for use in evaluating circulating fatty acid composition in African savannah elephants. Samples from six African elephants (two males and four females) were collected during the same week at the NC Zoo, Asheboro, NC. Results Results found only 2 of 36 individual fatty acids and none of the 10 fatty acid groupings were different when comparing the four blood fraction sample types to each other with Mann-Whitney U-Test pairwise comparisons. Myristic acid (14:0) was lower in the DBS samples than in whole blood, serum, and plasma and pentadecaenoic acid (15:1) was slightly more concentrated in DBS and whole blood. Discussion Results indicate that fatty acid profile of serum, plasma, whole blood, and DBS are comparable in African elephants. The DBS method offers advantages in acquisition and handling and may be preferable to other methods in both routine health assessment of captive animals and field research on free ranging animals.https://peerj.com/articles/12650.pdfAfrican elephantFatty acidsBlood fractionsDried blood spots |
| spellingShingle | Jordan Wood Larry J. Minter Doug Bibus Michael K. Stoskopf Vivek Fellner Kimberly Ange-van Heugten Comparison of African savanna elephant (Loxodonta africana) fatty acid profiles in whole blood, whole blood dried on blood spot cards, serum, and plasma PeerJ African elephant Fatty acids Blood fractions Dried blood spots |
| title | Comparison of African savanna elephant (Loxodonta africana) fatty acid profiles in whole blood, whole blood dried on blood spot cards, serum, and plasma |
| title_full | Comparison of African savanna elephant (Loxodonta africana) fatty acid profiles in whole blood, whole blood dried on blood spot cards, serum, and plasma |
| title_fullStr | Comparison of African savanna elephant (Loxodonta africana) fatty acid profiles in whole blood, whole blood dried on blood spot cards, serum, and plasma |
| title_full_unstemmed | Comparison of African savanna elephant (Loxodonta africana) fatty acid profiles in whole blood, whole blood dried on blood spot cards, serum, and plasma |
| title_short | Comparison of African savanna elephant (Loxodonta africana) fatty acid profiles in whole blood, whole blood dried on blood spot cards, serum, and plasma |
| title_sort | comparison of african savanna elephant loxodonta africana fatty acid profiles in whole blood whole blood dried on blood spot cards serum and plasma |
| topic | African elephant Fatty acids Blood fractions Dried blood spots |
| url | https://peerj.com/articles/12650.pdf |
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