Haematological profile shows that Inbred Sprague Dawley rats have exceptional promise for use in biomedical and pharmacological studies

Background: Laboratory or model animals are used in research for cure and improvement of human and animal diseases. Rats particularly the inbred strains are now more widely used laboratory model especially in toxicology and for understanding the pathophysiology of diseases. Aim: To determine the haematological indices of male and female inbred Sprague Dawley rats in health. Methods: An automated haematology analyzer was used to determine haematological indices of whole blood from individual in 20 each of male and female inbred Sprague Dawley rats. Mean, standard deviation, median interquartile range as well as minimum and maximum values for the haematological profile were calculated. Findings: Statistically significant differences for total and differential white blood cells (WBC), red blood cells (RBC) and Haemoglobin (Hgb) levels were observed between male and female rats. Conclusion: Data presented here would be useful as a reference for studies aimed at understanding the pathophysiology of diseases especially neoplasms and haematological disorders; as well as in evaluating alterations in blood parameters in relation to the pharmacological interventions and/or toxicological effects in inbred Sprague Dawley rats.