Correlation between some arterial and venous blood gas parameters in healthy newborn Martina Franca donkey foals from birth to 96 hours of age

In neonatology, blood gas analysis is a useful tool in the evaluation of the health of newborns and plays a key role in early detection of critically ill subjects. Because blood gas analysis parameters have not previously been studied in any depth in donkey foals, this study was performed on 16 healthy Martina Franca donkey foals born after an uncomplicated delivery. Arterial and venous blood samples were collected at 5 minutes and at 12, 24, 72, and 96 hours of age. Blood gas analysis was performed by a portable analyzer, measuring arterial and venous total carbon dioxide, carbon dioxide partial pressure (pCO2), oxygen partial pressure (pO2), oxygen saturation (sO2), bicarbonate, base excess (BE), pH, and lactate (LT). Lower blood pH values, pO2 and sO2, and a higher level of lactate were found at birth in comparison with subsequent sampling times. This moderate acidotic profile disappeared at 12 hours, when all the parameters became constant until the end of the study period. As expected, significant differences between arterial and venous blood gas parameters related to the oxygenation, such as pO2 and sO2, and partially carbon dioxide partial pressure were found, whereas total carbon dioxide, pH, BE, and LT were comparable in arterial and venous blood samples. For these latter parameters, the highly significant correlation between arterial and venous findings suggests that venous samples could be an acceptable alternative to the arterial sample for blood gas analysis in newborn donkey foals, when the oxygenation status of the patient is not the first goal of patient analysis.