Blood Clotting Times of Five Avian Species

Abstract

DIDISHEIM et al. (1959) and Soulier et al. (1959) reported Lee-White clotting times of chicken blood varying from 9 to 16 min. However, Delezenne (1897) and Howell (1909) earlier had reported much longer times. More recent work by Bigland and Triantaphyllopoulos (1960) confirmed the longer clotting times, recording a mean time of 69 min. at 42 °C. for 37 laying hens. This led to the hypothesis that the chicken relies for hemostasis on tissue thromboplastin present rather than on the generation of plasma thromboplastin. The basis being, that humans and mammals with comparable clotting times have hemorrhagic tendencies, whereas no such manifestation was seen in the apparently normal chickens examined. The present paper reports on a study of clotting times of five avian species at various temperatures, to confirm the lengthy clotting time of blood from chickens and determine if this is common to other avian species.MATERIALS AND METHODS