Phloroglucinol microassay for plasma xylose in dogs and horses

The phloroglucinol microassay technique for measuring plasma concentrations of xylose was compared with the more tedious orcinolferric chloride technique. Sequential blood samples were collected from 5 dogs and 6 horses every 30 minutes after oral administration of 0.5 g of D-xylose/kg of body weight. Comparison of the results by regression analysis shows a highly significant (P less than 0.01) positive linear correlation for both dogs (r = 0.95) and horses (r = 0.77). These results indicate that xylose in canine and equine plasma can be accurately measured by the phloroglucinol technique.