Introduction

The ante mortem identification of uraemia is not always possible because of different causes, but settlement of death origin is sometimes necessary. Methods for making posthumous recognition of this syndrome are constantly developed.

Materials and methods

The research was made on 12 dogs with recognized ante mortem renal failure and uraemia. The control group consisted of 24 dogs with excluded renal failure. Blood was collected ante mortem and the aqueous humour was taken up to 6 hours post mortem. T-test and rank correlation were used to investigate the relationship and significant differences between variables.

Results

In uraemic dogs mean serum urea level was 38.2±27.5, in aqueous humour 34.5±29.6 mmol/l. This values where significantly (p<0.001) higher than those of control group. Mean values for the control where 4.46±1.37 for serum urea levels, and 3.86±1.16 mmol/l for aqueous humour level. Statistical analysis of uraemic group revealed significant (p<0.001) positive correlation (r=0.97) between urea levels in aqueous humour and serum. This association is stronger than for control group (p<0.001, r=0.89). Our results are concurrent with studies performed on uraemic dogs [1] and healthy horses and dogs [2, 3].

The cerebro-spinal fluid, aqueous humour or vitreous humour can be collected for diagnostic purposes of ante mortem urea state in dogs. Previous work describes, that urea level in cerebro-spinal fluid and vitreous humour is stable for 48-72 hours, but for aqueous humour the stability is up to 5 days after decease [1]. Above the mentioned fluids most practical seems to be the aqueous humour because of its relatively easy accessibility, sufficient volume and thin consistency.

Conclusions

1. - Post mortem urea level in aqueous humour is significantly correlated with its ante mortem serum level.

2. - Post mortem urea level determination in aqueous humour can be a helpful diagnostic procedure for uraemia evaluation in dogs.

References

1. Palmer D.G. et al., 1985 Vet. Rec., 116, 411-412

2. Cantor G.H., et al., 1989 Equine Vet. J., 4, 288-291

3. Wilkie I.W., Bellamy J.E. 1982 Can. J. Comp. Med., 46, 146-149