Effect of Exercise on Hematological Values and its Relationship with Erythrocyte Membrane Damage in Horses

Physical exercise is considered a stress for the animal organism because it generates different types of responses, as are the negative effects caused by free radicals. In this paper, the hematologic response level of red blood cells and the presence of oxidative alterations in their membranes, in horses subjected to a test of high-intensity exercise were evaluated. The results indicate a significant increase in the number of red blood cells, hematocrit and hemoglobin concentration, reaching maximum values when the horses reach fatigue during exercise test, descending during aerobic recovery. The three parameters behaved similarly. In relation to damage the membrane of red blood cells, it was estimated by the degree of peroxidation, measured by chemiluminescence, over the exercise period. The values produced by peroxidative damage are high at the time of exercise exhaustion, remaining stable after recovery. The correlation between the studied hematological values and the degree of damage of the erythrocyte membrane shows that, despite of the increased circulating red blood cells because of splenic contraction, the erythrocytes are damaged due to the predominant oxidizing environment during the maximal exercise