Clinical Value of Nitroblue Tetrazolium Test (nbt) in the Diagnosis of Canine Inflammatory Processes Valor Do Teste De Redução Do Tetrazólio Nitroazul (nbt) No Diagnóstico De Processos Inflamatórios Caninos

The purpose of the present study is to determine the clinical value of nitroblue tetrazolium reduction test (NBT) to diagnose inflammatory processes in dogs, and compare to white blood cell count (WBC) and concentration of plasma fibrinogen. To this end, we determined the percentage of NBT reducing neutrophils, concentration of plasma fibrinogen and WBC of 242 dogs, including both healthy dogs and animals with inflammation processes, with or without liver disease, azotemia or hypogammaglobulinemias. The NBT reduction test confirmed 30.43% of inflammatory diseases in dogs. The combined use of NBT reduction test, plasma fibrinogen and WBC was more efficient and identified 84.35% of inflammatory processes. Hypogammaglobulinemia and liver disease did not alter the ability of neutrophils to reduce NBT in dogs with inflammatory diseases, but results suggest that azotemia may affect the ability of neutrophils to reduce NBT. It can be concluded that NBT reduction test has low sensitivity for the diagnosis of inflammatory diseases in dogs, but it is useful in cases where the fibrinogen and WBC are not able to detect inflammation.