FURTHER STUDIES ON CANINE ERYTHROCYTE FRAGILITY IN THE TROPICAL SUBREGION: THE EFFECTS OF SODIUM PENTOBARBITONE ANAESTHESIA IN NIGERIAN DOGS

The osmotic fragilities of the red blood cells of 5 local dogs were determined before and during sodium pentobarbitone anaesthesia using different concentrations of sodium chloride solution. It was observed that before the anaesthesia, the osmotic fragility decreased with increasing concentration of sodium chloride solution, exhibiting a sharp drop from a high (43%) at 0.5% to a low (19%) at 0.6%. Between 0.6 - 0.9% saline concentrations, the decrease in osmotic fragility was rather more gradual. Under anaesthesia, the Osmotic Fragility curve was shifted to the right of the pre-anaesthesia level. The pattern of response was however basically the same- decreasing value with increasing concentration of saline solution. The increases in osmotic fragility values recorded during anaesthesia over those of the pre-anaesthesia levels were significant (P < 0.05) for saline concentrations 0.5% - 0.8%. The values of some other hematological parameters such as the PCV, Hb, RBC and WBC only showed insignificant decreases. It was concluded that veterinary practitioners employing sodium pentobarbitone as anaesthetic agent should exercise more caution than hitherto.