Il protidogramma nel gatto: intervalli di riferimento ed interpretazione clinica

The serum protein electrophoresis in the cat: reference intervals and clinical interpretation*§ The zonal serum-electrophoresis (SPE) is a laboratory technique, used to separate with a specific support the serum proteins according to their size and electric net charge. In literature there are reduced information about feline reference intervals (RIs), both for agarose gel (AGE) or cellulose acetate (ACE). In this study 515 SPEs carried on serum sample of European common cats were evaluated, 291 carried out on ACE and 224 on AGE. Among all SPE carried out 179 (ACE, 105; AGE, 74) were selected based on the following criteria to establish the healthy group: Total Protein, Albumin and Globulin values in the normal RIs, regular aspect of their SPE run and densitometric graph. Both for ACE and AGE the following protein fractions were observed: Albumin, α1, α2, β1, β2 and γ globulins. Some sub-fractions were observed too such as α2A, α2B, γ1 and γ2 mostly in ACE. New RIs were calculated both for ACE and AGE and they were compared each other. For all protein fractions (except for Albumin and γ-globulins) statistically significant differences were observed between ACE and AGE (p<0.05). The AGE shows a better electrophoretic resolution. In 28 runs with hyper-γ-globulinemia (performed on AGE) several modifications were observed mostly polyclonal gammopathies. The SPE is a semi-quantitative technique to assess the different serum protein fractions and is useful to develop a proper diagnostic orientation.