Haemoglobin types and blood concentrations of haemoglobin, copper, ceruloplasmin and iron in adult Caspian

Introduction Perhaps, the most exciting equine discovery of the 20th century was that the Caspian is not a pony, but an ancient breed of miniature horse, previously believed to have been extinct for over a thousand years. These animals native of the areas around the Elborz Mountains and Caspian Sea in Iran, are extremely rare and were rescued from extinction in 1965 by an American L.FIROUSE [11]. The current theory is that Caspian horse is the ancient miniature horse of Mesopotamia, which was considered as extinct until the 7th century Anno Domini (AD) [7]. But, this tiny horse was probably one direct ancestor of the oriental breeds and subsequently of all modern breeds of hot blooded horses [5, 8, 11]. For confirming this new theory, the study of haemoglobin types in this species would be useful. In this respect, McCLURE and PARISH [17] reported that electrophoretic markers (such as haemoglobin) are useful genetic markers for identification and parentage studies. Haemoglobin types have been studied in Indian horses, quarter horses, Caspian miniature horses and Turkoman horses [9, 18, 20, 27]. The majority of horses have two types of haemoglobin, but certain breeds may present only one component [13]. Two haemoglobin types (A1 with high mobility and A2 with low mobility) were evidenced in Indian horses [27], in Turkoman horses [20], in Arab horses [24] and in quarter horses [9] in which the high mobility type (A1) was predominant. Copper is essential for haemoglobin formation and iron transport. Copper is the rate limiting element in the synthesis of ceruloplasmin, a glycoprotein that is synthetized in the liver. Ceruloplasmin acts as a ferroxidase, by oxidizing Fe+2 into Fe+3, and allowing Fe+3 to bind with the iron transport protein, transferrin. Ceruloplasmin concentrations have been considered as reliable indicators to copper status [13]. KINCAID et al. [16] reported that serum ceruloplasmin was closely correlated to both serum and plasma copper concentrations. By contrast, FAYE et al. [10] reported that in the camel, the correlation between ceruloplasmin and copper plasma concentrations was low. The relationship between the types of haemoglobin and the concentration of minerals (iron and copper) in the blood of different breeds of sheep from different geographical locations was reviewed by AGAR et al. [1]. NAZIFI et al. [20] reported that there was no significant correlation between the concentration of haemoglobin, copper, iron, ceruloplasmin and haemoglobin types in adult Turkoman horses. Studies on the relationship between copper, ceruloplasmin, iron, haemoglobin and haemoglobin types will increase our understanding on the metabolism of blood components in various species. The potential establishment of such correlations in an ancestral equine breed, the miniature Caspian horse, would be out of interest. The aim of the present study is to determine whether there is any correlation between these parameters in this particular horse specie. Haemoglobin types and blood concentrations of haemoglobin, copper, ceruloplasmin and iron in adult Caspian miniature horses