Comparative serological investigation between cat and tiger blood fortransfusion

[摘要] Evidence suggests that non-domesticated felids inherited the same AB-erythrocyte antigensas domestic cats. To study the possible compatibility of tiger blood with that of otherendangered felidae, blood samples from captive tigers and domestic cats were subjected toan in vitro study. The objectives of this study were to (1) identifywhether the captive tigers had blood type AB and (2) determine the compatibility betweenthe blood of captive tigers and that of domestic cats with a similar blood type. Theanti-coagulated blood with ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid of 30 tigers was examined todetermine blood type, and a crossmatching test was performed between tiger and cat blood.All 30 tigers had blood type A. Tube agglutination tests using tiger plasma with caterythrocytes resulted in 100% agglutination (n=30) with type B cat erythrocytes and 76.7%agglutination (n=23) with type A cat erythrocytes. The 80% of major and 60% of minorcompatibilities between blood from 10 tigers and 10 domestic cats with blood type A werefound to pass compatibility tests. Interestingly, 3/10 of the tigers’ red blood cellsamples were fully compatible with all cat plasmas, and 1/10 of the tiger plasma sampleswere fully compatible with the type A red cells of domestic cats. Although the result ofpresent findings revealed type-A blood group in the surveyed tigers, the reaction of tigerplasma with Type-A red cell from cats suggested a possibility of other blood type intigers.

[学科分类] 兽医学

[关键词] agglutination;blood group;red blood cell;sera;tiger