Comparison of hematologic and biochemical values in htPA transgenic pigs

Pigs have been used widely in biomedical research owing to their physiologic and anatomic similarities to humans. Analysis of the hematologic and biochemical values in pigs is an important basis for biomedical research and veterinary clinical diagnosis, but research on transgenic pigs has been sparse. This study was conducted to obtain basic data on transgenic pigs and to describe and compare the reference values for hematologic and biochemical parameters in human tissue plasminogen activator (htPA) transgenic pigs vs normal pigs. Blood samples were obtained from 7 normal LY (Landrace-Yorkshire crossbred) pigs and 8 transgenic pigs and 16 hematologic and 15 serum biochemical parameters were tested. Among the hematologic parameters tested, significant differences were observed in the red blood cells (RBC), mean red blood cell hemoglobin (MCH), and lymphocytes (LYM), between the non-transgenic and transgenic pigs. Among the biochemical parameters tested, the blood urea nitrogen (BUN), total protein (TP), cholesterol (CHOL), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), creatinine (CREA), gamma glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT), globin (GOB), and amylase (AMYL) showed significant differences between the two groups. Thus, the values determined in this study can be used as basic reference values for transgenic pigs and will contribute to their use in biomedical research.