A homemade manual cytocentrifuge for the analysis of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid in horses.

FREZZA, MARIEL; PICCO, SEBASTÍAN; TUEMMERS, CHRISTIAN; MURIEL, MARCOS

Congreso; 17º Congreso WEVA 2023; 2023

INTRODUCTION: Homemade cytocentrifuges have been described for other samples, however, its use for equine BALF cytology has not yet been described. The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of a manual cytocentrifuge for the processing of equine BALF.MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fifteen equine BALF samples were processed in a commercial cytospin and a manual cytocentrifuge. The latter was adapted from a salad spinner using the disposable devices from commercial cytocentrifuges. The slides obtained by both methods were analyzed considering their cellularity, proportion of ruptured cells and differential cell count. RESULTS: Results obtained were expressed in mean ± SD. We found a decrease in the number of cells in the manual cytocentrifuge compared to the cytospin (50.615 ± 21.668 cytospin vs. 20.323 ± 14.227 manual, p˂0.01) and also an increase in the proportion of ruptured cells (4.346 ± 3.092 vs. 7.061 ± 6.122, p=0.083 respectively). The differential cell count for inflammatory cells didn?t differ significantly allowing to reach the same cytological diagnosis (neutrophils: 5.44 ± 6.1 cytospin vs. 5.4 ± 5.15 manual, p= 0.47, R=0.971; mast cells 3.34 ± 3.26 vs. 3.54 ± 3.23, p= 0.435, R= 0.915; eosinophils 0.346 ± 0.938 vs. 0.366 ± 0.677, p= 0.473, R= 0.714 respectively). However statistical difference was found with macrophages (44.066 ± 15.128 cytospin vs. 54.306 ± 14.216 manual, p= 0.033, R= 0.143) and lymphocytes (47.113 ± 13.983 vs. 36.52 ± 13.108, p= 0.02, R= 0.038). DISCUSSION/CONCLUSIONS: The predictive value of the differential cell count was adequate for the more relevant cells for the diagnosis of equine asthma. However, further improvement in the technique is needed. It has the advantage of being low cost, easy to operate and transport, and since it does not require electricity, it can be used in rural areas.