Comparison of Serum and Plasma Aluminium Concentrations in Sheep

Although Aluminum (Al) is a non-essential toxic (neurotoxic, immunotoxic, cardiotoxic, etc.), it is widely used in several industries (pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, food, etc.). Al-containing vaccines, medicines, contaminated food, and polluted air are the main routes of exposure (inhalation, dermal or oral). Determination and monitoring of blood element concentrations is an important tool for the clinical diagnosis of toxicity in animal health and sheep is one of the indicator species for assessing environmental health status. Aluminum is highly (>80) bound to protein in blood. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) is a current analytical method with high potential to contribute to clinical diagnosis in the field of animal health, where elemental concentrations in biological samples can be measured at multiple and parts per trillion (ppt) concentrations. The aim of this study was to determine, statistically analsis and compare Al concentrations in sheep (n=12) serum and plasma by ICP-MS. The concentrations (mean±SE) were 56.34±1.82 and 62.22±2.30 for serum and plasma, respectively. The mean plasma concentration was higher than the mean serum concentration, but the differences were not statistically significant (P=0.06). While toxic concentrations in the liver and kidney have been reported, there are no blood data for Al in sheep and the serum reference concentration is reported for humans only. Owing to the lack of information on Al toxicity in sheep, experimental acute toxic concentration studies of blood (whole blood, plasma, and serum) are required for Al in sheep. In the conclusion, no statistical difference was found between serum and plasma concentrations and no clinical signs observed at these concentrations.