Abstract

TIRADO, Carlos; CORTES, Arturo; PORCILE, Patricio  and  CASTILLO, Juan P.. Hematological parameters of subterranean rodent Spalacopus cyanus (Rodentia: Octodontidae). Rev. Mex. Biodiv. [online]. 2019, vol.90, e902743.  Epub June 27, 2019. ISSN 2007-8706.  https://doi.org/10.22201/ib.20078706e.2019.90.2743.

Herein we describe the hematological parameters of the subterranean endemic Chilean rodent Spalacopus cyanus (Rodentia, Octodontidae). Our results show that it presents a distinctive hematological condition as it does not show the high values of hemoglobin per erythrocyt (HCM) found in other mainly subterranean rodents where the reported HCM values represent 49.9 and 47.2% for Ctenomys talarum and Ctenomys australis respectively. Nevertheless, S. cyanus presents some hematological characteristics that increase the oxygen transport capacity in blood as a large amount of red blood cells of small size. Even though our results help to understand the attributes that explain the use of the subterranean ecotope by this species other studies such as the atmospheric conditions in the galleries, the effects of the soil type on the latter the O2-affinity of the hemoglobin (2.3-DPG-effect) or the levels of gene expression of EPO and HIF-1α under normoxia and hypoxia are still required.

Keywords : Spalacopus cyanus; Subterranean; Hemoglobin; Red blood cell; Mean corpuscular volume (MCV); Mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH).