Comparative hematology: studies on guinea-pigs (Cavia porcellus)

1. Guinea-pig blood clots rapidly and the clots retract in glass tubes. The prothrombin time is long and the activated partial thromboplastin time short compared to human. The Russel viper venom time is similar to human. 2. Factors VII and X assay at levels far below and factors V, VIII and XII assay far above human levels. Other coagulation factors (fibrinogen, II, IX, XI, Fletcher and Fitzgerald) assay within or close to the human range. 3. The thromboplastin generation test results for guinea-pigs and humans are similar. 4. Platelets are numerous and small. They aggregate with ADP, arachidonic acid and pig plasma, variably with ristocetin and poorly with bovine collagen or thrombin. On electron microscopy, platelets appear small with many dark granules (dense bodies). There is an open canicular system. Glycogen particles are sparse. Microtubules are occasionally seen, mitochondria are rare and alpha-granules are not readily distinguished from dark granules. 5. Ristocetin cofactor is very low, assaying at < 16% of human (< 0.16 U/ml). 6. Leukocyte counts are variable (6300-17,000 per microliters) and differential counts show neutrophils slightly lower and lymphocytes slightly higher than average human counts. 7. Guinea-pig erythrocyte parameters fall within human ranges. 8. Protein electrophoresis shows total protein and albumin to be slightly lower than human. 9. Antithrombin III, Protein C and alpha 2-antiplasmin assay within the human range and plasminogen at very low levels. 10. Bleeding times are consistently about 4 min.