The bone-specific alkaline phosphatase (ALP) isoenzyme activity was measured in 51 serum samples from four captive Asian elephants ( Elephas maximus ) using a conventional method with wheat germ lectin precipitation and a commercial agarose gel electrophoresis (AGE) kit; the isoenzymes were designated as bone-specific ALP (BAP) and ALP isoenzyme 3 (ALP3), respectively. This study examined the suitability of the AGE kit for analyzing blood biochemistry in Asian elephants. The serum ALP3 and BAP activities were strongly positively correlated and met the evaluation criteria for agreement using Bland-Altman analysis. The results indicate that the AGE kit can be used to examine the blood biochemistry in Asian elephants instead of the conventional method.

The anthropometric and blood data of an unsuccessfully hand-reared Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) calf were retrospectively compared with the data for calves raised by their real mothers or allomothers, to identify potential reasons for poor outcomes in the hand-reared case. The hand-reared calf grew normally in terms of body weight and withers height. However, blood biochemical data suggested reduced bone metabolism, low immune status, and malnutrition during its life. Blood bone markers were measured to determine whether a skeletal disorder was present in the Asian elephant calf, which was not clear from the anthropometric data. Monitoring these parameters in hand-reared Asian elephant calves, with the aim of keeping them within the normal range, may increase the success rate of hand-rearing of Asian elephant calves.

This study investigated consecutive fluctuations in serum activities of bone-specific alkaline phosphatase (ALP) isoenzyme 3 (ALP3) in 11 clinically healthy Holstein heifers during the first 18 months of life. ALP3 activities at the first sampling time point after weaning (3 months) were significantly lower than those at multiple time points during the pre-weaning period. Those activities increased from a minimum at 3 months to a peak at 6 months during the post-weaning period. In the anthropometric data, daily body weight and wither height gains appeared to be below the public data at 4 months and 4–5 months, respectively. The data suggested that serum ALP3 activity can be used to monitor skeletal growth of heifers at weaning.

We measured the bone-specific alkaline phosphatase (ALP) isoenzyme activity in 67 plasma samples from 14 newborn Holstein calves using both a conventional method (featuring heat inactivation) and a commercial agarose gel electrophoresis (AGE) kit; the relevant isoenzymes were termed bone-specific ALP (BAP) and ALP isoenzyme 3 (ALP3). We explored whether the AGE kit afforded reliable data when used to analyze samples from Holstein calves. The blood was collected from the jugular vein of each calf immediately prior to the first colostrum feeding (pre-feeding), 20 and 40 h after pre-feeding, and on days 4 and 7; whereas three samples (from three calves) were not obtained. The total plasma ALP activity varied widely, exceeding the ranges of reference values. On electrophoresis, 52 of 67 plasma samples (77.6 %) clearly contained both ALP isoenzyme 2 and ALP3, as did control human serum. The total ALP activity of the 52 samples ranged from 166-1989 U/L (median: 1013 U/L), whereas the values for the other 15 samples (22.4%) exhibiting abnormal isoenzyme fractionation ranged from 1014-5118 U/L (median: 1780 U/L). In the 52 plasma samples exhibiting clearly separated isoenzymes, ALP3 and BAP activities were strongly positively correlated as revealed by Deming regression (y = 0.93x + 22.6, p<0.0001) and Bland-Altman analysis (ALP3/BAP activities limit of agreement: −5.1%). Thus, the AGE kit yields useful information on newborn calves, and can replace the conventional method when the total plasma ALP activity is less than approximately 1000 U/L.

This study investigated changes in serum levels of hepatic, bone, and intestinal alkaline phosphatase (ALP) isoenzymes (ALP2, ALP3, and ALP5, respectively) in Holstein cows around parturition. Tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase 5b (TRAP5b) activity and calcium (Ca) concentrations were also measured. We analyzed blood samples from 11 late-pregnant heifers (primiparous group) and 13 multiparous (2-4 lactations; multiparous group) cows at 3 weeks (18-24 days prepartum; -3 weeks), 2 weeks (17-11 days prepartum; -2 weeks), and 1 week (10-4 days prepartum; -1 weeks) before parturition; the day of calving (within 12 h post-calving; day 0); and 5 days postpartum (5 days). ALP3 activity was significantly higher in the primiparous group than in the multiparous group, whereas the activities decreased significantly in both groups after 5 days.