Indicadores hematológicos em cágados do córrego Felizardo no município de Uruguaiana - RS

Abstract

Studies with freshwater turtles in Brazil are still incipient, lacking information about their habits, such as reproduction, feeding and activity patterns. Despite its wide territory, information on distribution and mapping of freshwater turtles are rare, especially considering the menace of disappearing from Brazilian ecosystems, with accelerated river pollution raise and deterioration of natural environment. In this sense, studies related to their biological characteristics, mainly hematological, are important for the diagnosis of these animal’s health state in nature without the need of euthanasia. Thus, the objective of this study was to analyze physiological and environmental conditions of freshwater turtles collected in Felizardo stream, located next to the Federal University of Pampa (UNIPAMPA) campus, in the city of Uruguaiana - RS, verifying which species occur in the region and their hematological parameters. Collections were made in location known for the occurrence of turtles. Twenty one freshwater turtles were collected using a 25 mm dragging net between knots and 1 mL of blood was extracted using heparinized syringes and then transferred to plastic tubes containing 30 μL of heparin 5000 UI, kept in ice. Biological material was immediately brought to UNIPAMPA Aquariofilia laboratory, where the blood was processed for hematocrit analysis, hemoglobin and plasmatic glucose levels. Two water samples from the same location on different days were collected for microbiological parameter analysis (ammount of total and fecal coliforms) by the most probable number method (MPN). All turtles were from the same species, cágado-de-barbelas (Phrynops hilarii), sixteen females and five males, average weight of 1.28 kg ± 0.083. Results found in hematological analysis were, in average: Hematocrit 11.70%, Hemoglobin 9.60 g/dL e Glucose 58.88 mg/dL. Concerning water analysis, MPN method resulted in a count of 350 and 170 total coliforms/100 mL, through the combination (5-3-3 and 5-4-4,) obtained from the count of tubes containing brilliant green broth. However, the presence of E. coli was not detected through EC medium, demonstrating the absence of fecal coliforms in the analyzed sample. The values found in this study are the first presented in the Brazilian pampa’s region. It is not possible to affirm that the animals sampled here are considered as having hematological amendments, but it is also audacious to state that these values serve as the hematological standard for the species in the southern region of Brazil, because more studies are needed.