The effect of bleeding and starvation on blood volumes and peripheral hemogram of the turtle, Pseudemys scripta elegans

Abstract

In assessment of some aspects of the erythropoietic system of a poikilothermic vertebrate, values were determined for red cell, white cell, reticulocyte and circulating erythroblast numbers as well as hematocrit, hemoglobin, the erythrocyte corpuscular constants and serum iron concentration in normal and in starved turtles. Starvation caused no change in the peripheral hemogram but resulted in a decrease in serum iron.Bleeding of normal turtles decreased both the red cell and plasma volumes, while starvation resulted in only a slight lowering of the plasma volume. In addition, blednormal turtles showed decreases in hematocrit, hemoglobin concentration and serum iron concentration.In the cellular response to bleeding, radioiron‐labeled erythroblasts appeared in the circulation by the second day after Fe⁵⁹ administration. A sudden rise occurred on the fourth day which was associated with a high spleen radioactivity. Erythroblast levels were elevated in the blood of bled‐normal but not in bled‐starved turtles. Indeed, the bled‐starved animals appeared incapable of increased erythropoiesis as measured by any of the criteria used in these studies.