Exercise-induced haematological and blood lactate changes in whippets training for lure coursing
Pubblicato online: 09 mar 2023
Pagine: 139 - 146
Ricevuto: 13 lug 2022
Accettato: 14 feb 2023
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jvetres-2023-0009
Parole chiave
© 2023 K. Miazga et al., published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.
Introduction
Whippets are traditionally trained to compete in lure coursing. While in humans and horses, training is routinely monitored by special tests, this is not carried out in the training of whippets. The aim of this study was to check if laboratory tests designed for racehorses could be useful in monitoring whippets training for lure coursing.
Material and Methods
Blood samples were taken from 14 whippets at several time points: before exercise (including warm-up), immediately after, 15 min after and 30 min after exercise sessions of straight 400 m runs (T) and coursing (C). Routine haematological values and lactate concentrations (LA) were measured.
Results
White blood cell count, red blood cell count, haemoglobin concentration and haematocrit increased significantly in both types of exertion, and no differences between the types were observed. The LA measured immediately after the run were increased, but there was no significant difference between the types of session (T and C). After both types of activity, LA decreased within 30 min post run by 9–11 mmol/L. Lactate concentrations were significantly higher 30 min after the T sessions than after the C sessions.
Conclusion
The results confirmed that typical exercise-induced changes occurred in whippets training for lure coursing; however, the scale of changes was different to that in horses. The sampling scheme used in racehorses can be applied to whippets and can be useful as a laboratory tool for monitoring their training.