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Bone Marrow Fat Analysis

To Support a Diagnosis of Starvation/Malnutrition

Summary:  Making a definitive diagnosis of starvation in animals is difficult because there are few quantitative measures of starvation available at post-mortem examination.  The Section of Toxicology and Analytical Chemistry has developed a method which can be used to relate severely decreased bone marrow fat to clinical malnutrition.

Method:  In this method, the fat content is determined from the bone marrow of the right femur using a modification of the AOAC published procedure for crude fat analysis.  This procedure involves drying the sample in vacuo and extracting the bone marrow fat using pentane.

Average bone marrow fat content for normal adult cattle, dogs, sheep, pigs and horses:

Species
n
Mean
Range
Cattle
18
91.54%
83.21-101.22%
Dogs
15
81.53%
65.23-98.48%
Sheep
7
91.31%
83.35-95.52%
Pigs
4
81.27%
72.35-91.52%
Horses
13
85.90%
62.06-99.33%

Note:  These average values should be used in conjunction with the results of a complete post-mortem evaluation for the diagnosis of malnutrition/starvation.

Cases Submitted to the ADDL:

Average bone marrow fat content in selected cases suspected of malnutrition (as of Nov, 2006)

Species
n
Mean
Range
Cattle
6
18.82%
0.47-67.11%
Sheep
1
7.89%
7.89%

Goats

5
14.12%
1.52-40.12%
Cervids
2
1.53%
0.21-2.86%
Horses
3
47.24%
37.91-64.44%

Submission:  To submit a sample for analysis, submit a whole femur from the affected animal.

by
C. Wilson, Interim Chief Analytical Chemist
K. Meyerholtz, Toxicology Technician
S. Hooser, Head, Toxicology Section

 

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West Lafayette, IN 47907
Phone: 765-494-7440
Fax: 765-494-9181

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11367 E. Purdue Farm Road
Dubois, IN 47527
Phone: (812) 678-3401
Fax: (812) 678-3412

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