Veterinary Hematology is more than just blood cells. Blood, highly functional and truly definitive, does much more than provide for the transport of cellular metabolites and waste products. Blood is made up of four major components: Plasma, Red Blood Cells, White Blood Cells, and Platelets.

Each component possesses its own diagnostic significance in the veterinary clinical setting.

Without blood, you have no viable mammal life. Therefore without blood, the clinician has no valid clinical picture of disease-state. To appreciate the value of blood, the clinician should examine each individual component of blood separately to gain an appreciation for the clinical significance and diagnostic value of veterinary hematology in their practice. Anemia will also be discussed.

Plasma

Plasma carries blood and blood proteins. Aside from a high water content, plasma also contains dissolved salts, calcium, sodium, magnesium, and potassium. Plasma contains clotting factors and on exposure to air it will clot. Serum is the clear fluid that separates from clotted whole blood and clotted plasma. Plasma comprises approximately 20% of the animal body's extracellular fluid. Most plasma protein molecules are too large to pass through the capillary walls into the interstitial space. The small amount of protein that can pass through the capillary walls is primarily taken up by the lymph nodes and eventually returned to the circulation.

The Majority of the plasma proteins are produced in the liver. Plasma proteins form three major chemical groups (fractions) and have varying functions:

*albumin - approximately 60%

*fibrinogen