Interspecific differences in the haematological reference intervals in Tupinambis genus from Argentina (Sauria–Teiidae)

Cytomorphology and Seasonal Hematological Parameters in Tegu Lizards (Salvator merianae) Raised in Captivity

“…These studies in captive Tegu lizards showed changes in hematocrit during the annual/seasonal cycle and also differences between the sexes. The highest values were found during hibernation, in agreement with Pena et al [21] and Troiano et al [24,25] who explain the findings as a result of dehydration with hemoconcentration and increased levels of erythropoietin in response to hypoxia. They did not find changes linked to sex.…”

“…Studies using flow cytometry allowed us to determine accurately the number of white blood cells, which in our case coincided with the manual count (using Natt and Herrick reagent). The average value obtained for S. merianae (7200 cells/µl) is similar to that reported by Pena et al [21] and differs markedly with the 16700 found by Troiano et al [24,25] for the same species.…”

“…In Salvator erythrocytes, there were practically no differences in morphology, size and number of red blood cells compared to previously reported values [20,21,24,25]. However, throughout the annual cycle we found slight morphological variations: in particular, a degree of anisocytosis at the exit of hibernation.…”

“…They found a large number of eosinophils (42% and 24%) with few heterophils (they probably confused heterophils with eosinophils, given their similar morphology). In their paper, Troiano et al [24,25] reported 45% lymphocytes, which could be due to the involuntary count of thrombocytes and nuclei-free erythrocytes. In general, all the bibliography agrees that the round thrombocytes may be confused with small lymphocytes [19], which possibly explains the great lymphocytosis observed in some cases in reptiles.…”

“…Numerous hematological studies on reptiles exist in the literature [13,14,15,16,17,18,19]. There are also studies in Tupinambis [20,21,22,23,24,25]. However, these studies show large discrepancies between the evaluated parameters and the cytomorphological characterisations are not yet sufficiently defined, in addition they were carried out mainly in wild animals, without individual identification and without systematic data throughout the annual cycle.…”