Characterisation of clotting factors, anticoagulant protein activities and viscoelastic analysis in healthy donkeys.
Authors: Perez-Ecija A, Mendoza F J
Journal: Equine veterinary journal
Summary
# Editorial Summary Donkeys and horses have long been recognised as distinct species with different haemostatic profiles, yet detailed characterisation of clotting factors and anticoagulant proteins in healthy donkeys has been lacking until now. Perez-Ecija and Mendoza addressed this gap by measuring seven clotting factors (V, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI and XII) and three anticoagulant proteins (antithrombin III, Protein C and Protein S) in 80 healthy donkeys, comparing results against 40 horses using human-based assay systems, with thromboelastography performed on a subset of 34 donkeys. Donkeys demonstrated notably shorter activated partial thromboplastin times (33.4 seconds versus 38.8 seconds in horses) and substantially elevated activities of Factors VII, IX and XI, whilst anticoagulant proteins were markedly higher across all three measures—particularly Protein C, which was more than four times higher in donkeys (33.16 versus 7.57 units). Viscoelastic analysis revealed donkeys formed clots more rapidly than horses, with shorter activated clot times and faster clot formation rates. These findings carry important clinical implications: veterinarians cannot apply equine reference ranges to donkey haemostatic profiles, which risks misdiagnosis of bleeding or clotting disorders, and nutritional or pharmaceutical interventions affecting coagulation may require species-specific dosing and monitoring protocols.
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Practical Takeaways
- •Do not apply horse reference ranges to donkey coagulation test results; donkeys have intrinsically different haemostatic profiles that must be interpreted against donkey-specific values
- •When managing bleeding disorders or anticoagulation in donkeys, recognize that donkeys have higher clotting factor activity and anticoagulant proteins than horses, which may affect therapeutic decision-making
- •Request species-appropriate reference ranges from your diagnostic laboratory when testing donkey haemostatic parameters, as routine equine standards will misclassify normal donkey results
Key Findings
- •Donkeys have significantly shorter activated partial thromboplastin time (33.4 vs 38.8 seconds) and higher Factor VII, IX, and XI activities compared to horses
- •Donkeys show higher anticoagulant protein activities with Antithrombin III (204 vs 174), Protein C (33.16 vs 7.57), and Protein S activities all significantly elevated versus horses
- •Thromboelastography parameters in donkeys (activated clot time 175ms, time to peak 6.5s, clot formation rate 26.9) are shorter than reported values in horses
- •Reference values for haemostatic parameters cannot be extrapolated between donkeys and horses, requiring species-specific clinical interpretation