Clinical, haematological and biochemical responses of sheep undergoing autologous blood transfusion

With respect to clinical parameters, we observed a decrease in heart rate after 24, 48 and 196 hours from reinfusion compared to basal values (p？<？0.05). Haematological variables including globular volume and erythrocyte counts showed a significant decrease (p？<？0.01) at all time points after collection and increased (p？<？0.01) at all time points after reinfusion. There was a significant increase in total protein and calcium at all time points after reinfusion (p？<？0.05).Autologous transfusion in sheep slightly altered the physiological, biochemical and haematological responses of sheep, indicating that the technique proposed is safe and can be applied in the clinical practice of this species. The 8 d period was not sufficient for complete recovery of the haematological parameters after blood collection.In recent decades, there has been a considerable increase in the availability and use of homologous blood in veterinary haemotherapy as a result of the advancement of transfusion therapy and optimisation of blood banks [1]. Homologous transfusion is used to treat various diseases and surgical procedures; however, there are several complications associated with administration of blood and its components [2].The risks of blood transfusions can be reduced by the use of autologous transfusion, or autotransfusion, which consists of pre-donation of a patient’s blood that will later be reinfused into the same patient [3]. The use of autologous transfusion has the advantage of eliminating the risk of immune-mediated haemolytic reactions, virus and prion transmission, febrile reactions, and allergic reactions and reduces the risk of postoperative infection and incidence of cancer that can occur in homologous transfusions due to immune system modulation [4,5].Although autologous transfusion has been practiced for more than 100？years, there has been an explosive growth of its use in human medicine in recent decades. The reasons for this include economic benefits, greater clinic