CIRCADIAN AND SEASONAL RHYTHMS OF ERYTHROCYTE IN HOLSTEIN

CATTLE

Scaglione, M.C.1; Cerutti, R.D.1; Cramer, A.N.1; Cerutti, M.R.; Boggio, J.C.2;
Althaus, R.L.1
1
Universidad Nacional del Litoral, Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias.R.P. Kreder
2805 (3080) Esperanza, Santa Fe, Argentina - mcscagli@fcv.unl.edu.ar
2
Universidad Catlica de Crdoba, Facultad de Ciencias Agropecuarias

Keywords: chronobiology, erythrocyte, cattle.

To investigate possible circadian and seasonal rhythms of erythrocyte in

Holstein, every 3 hours blood samples were taken sequentially during 27 hour,
from six bulls, six heifer and six cow, during winter, spring, summer and autumn
2002. Animals were in a commercial farm in Villa Trinidad, Santa Fe, Argentina,
and were on an alfalfa based grazing system. The blood samples were taken via
the jugular vein, in heparinized syringes, they were then centrifuged and analysis
erythrocyte was performed by means of hematologic autoanalyzer (Abacus
Diatron). The existence of a periodic pattern was verified following the harmonic
analysis or Fourier development. The characteristic of oscillating functions are the
period (T), amplitude (A1), mesor (A0), angular frequency (w) and the acrophase
(). The statistical analysis was carried out using the procedure NLIN of the
statistical packages SAS. The Table 1 show the functions of Fourier development
by erythrocyte in bovine category for season.

Table 1. Fourier functions computed to approximate the times series

Estacin Categora Modelo: [Erythrocyte] = A0 + A1*Cos (w*T + ) R
heiffer [Erythrocyte]= 7.647 + 0.169 * Cos (0.240 * Time + 4.87) 0.9688
Winter cow [Erythrocyte]= 7.426 + 0.236 * Cos (0.299 * Time + 4.16) 0.8826
bulls [Erythrocyte]= 8.023 + 0.458 * Cos (0.321 * Time + 3.83) 0.8989
heiffer [Erythrocyte]= 6.696 + 0.068 * Cos (0.311 * Time + 3.88) 0.6339
Spring cow [Erythrocyte]= 5.970 + 0.079 * Cos (0.354 * Time + 3.45) 0.7481
bulls [Erythrocyte]= 7.469 + 0.231 * Cos (0.197 * Time + 4.57) 0.8539
heiffer [Erythrocyte]= 7.657 + 0.272 * Cos (0.200 * Time + 0.06) 0.8113
Summer cow [Erythrocyte]= 6.983 + 0.276 * Cos (0.267 * Time + 4.97) 0.8660
bulls [Erythrocyte]= 8.287 + 0.202 * Cos (0.348 * Time + 4.09) 0.6686
heiffer [Erythrocyte]= 7.199 + 0.201 * Cos (0.256 * Time + 5.29) 0.8937
Autumn cow [Erythrocyte]= 7.157 + 0.251 * Cos (0.341 * Time + 4.11) 0.8917
bulls [Erythrocyte]= 8.033 + 0.135 * Cos (0.271 * Time + 4.76) 0.9090
[RBC]: x 103l
The erythrocytes can be considered the main responsible of the changes in the
sanguine viscosity. Circadian rhythms were observed with frequency between
0.197 rad/h and 0.354 rad/h. The circulating number of erythrocyte show a daily
rhythm thoroughly reproducible and regular but of low amplitude, with acrophase
situated in the middle of the light period, that`s why it is interesting from the
physiologic but not relevant from the diagnosis point of view. The results here
presented indicate existence of biological rhythms that are adjusted to daily cycles.