Comp. Biochem. Physiol., 1963, Vol. 8, pp. 187 to 189. Pergamon Press Ltd., London.

Printed in Great Britain

HEMATOLOGICAL STUDIES ON THE TWO-TOED SLOTH,

CHOLOEPUS DIDACTYLUS

HORACE N. MARVIN and BETTY R. SHOOK

The Department of Anatomy and The Clinical Laboratory,

University of Arkansas School of Medicine, Little Rock
(Received 1 August 1962)

Abstract--1. Maximal erythrocyte survival times of 130 and 135 days were
obtained Using the Cr 5t method.
2. Compared with other mammals, sloths have: higher values for blood
urea nitrogen and cholesterol; comparable values for calcium, creatinine,
potassium, phosphorus and bicarbonate; and lower values for glucose, chloride,
sodium and iodine.
3. Erythrocyte and leucocyte counts, hematocrit, hemoglobin and catalase
values are also given.

INTRODUCTION
As PARTof a comparative analysis of the life span of erythrocytes of various species,
two two-toed sloths were made available for study. Since these results, as well as
other hematologic values, were not available in the literature (Spector, 1956) they
are the subject of this report.

METHODS
The maximal life spans of the erythrocytes were determined as described
previously (Marvin & Lucy, 1957) using 30/zC of Cr51for tagging purposes. The
blood to be tagged was drawn from the heart, and was reinjected into a vessel
corresponding to the antebrachial portion of the cephalic vein of other species.
The time at which the blood radioactivity reached zero levels was taken as the
maximal survival time. Blood catalase was determined by the method of Feinstein
(1949), hematocrits using microhematocrit capillary tubes, and hemoglobin as
oxyhemoglobin (Sunderman et al., 1953). All other determinations and calcula-
tions were performed according to accepted clinical laboratory procedures. Blood
for all determinations was obtained by venipuncture because blood flow from
simple skin incisions was so slow as to make this impractical. The two animals,
one male and one female, were healthy adults obtained from an animal importer.
Each gained weight on a diet of fruit, vegetables, bread and raw ground beef; water
was freely available.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The results obtained in this study are tabulated in Table I, and since only
two animals were involved no statistical analysis was made.
187
188 HORACE N. MARVIN AND BETTY R. SHOOK

F r o m the table it will be noted that the hemoglobin level is above the general
mammalian level (Spector, 1956), although the RBC count and hematocrit are
similar. Comparing the chemical determinations on blood with those tabulated

TABLE ]

Determinations ~ Sloth z~ Sloth

Maximal survival RBC (days) 130 135

Total RBC count (106/mm 3) 4"19 4-80
Hematocrit (%) 49 53
Oxyhemoglobin (g/100 ml) 17"1 19"7
Reticulocytes (%) 0'8 0"6
Total WBC count (103/mm 3) 11"48 10.05
Differential leucocyte count (//o)
Lymphocytes 60 54
Neutrophiles 29 35
Monocytes 4 8
Eosinophiles 4 3
Basophiles 3 0
Blood chemistry--24 hr fast
Urea nitrogen (mg %) 25 28
Glucose (rag %) 58 62
Calcium (m-equiv/1.) 5'6 4'9
Cholesterol (mg %) 250 260
Creatinine (serum, mg %) 1-6 1-6
Chloride (m-equiv/1.) 94 102
Sodium (m-equiv/1.) 137 141)
Potassium (m-equiv/1.) 5-5 4-8
Phosphorus (mg %) 3-5 3-0
Bicarbonate (m-equiv/l.) 18 22
Protein-bound iodine (/~g %) 3-2 3"6
Blood catalase (units/ml) 50 56
Calculations :
Mean corpuscular hemoglobin (/z/zg) 40"8 41"0
Mean corpuscular volume (/z3) 116"9 110"4
Mean corpuscular hemoglobin
concentration (%) 34'9 37-2

for eleven other mammals including man (Spector, 1956), we find that the sloths
have higher values for blood urea nitrogen and cholesterol; comparable values
for calcium, creatinine, potassium, phosphorus and bicarbonate; and lower values
for glucose, chloride, sodium and iodine. Of particular interest in regard to meta-
bolic physiology is the finding of an elevated serum cholesterol and a depressed
protein-bound iodine. Such a relationship suggests a relatively low level of thyroid
activity consistent with the data (Spector, 1956) obtained on these animals from
basal metabolic and tissue metabolic studies. Comparison of metabolic rate and
maximal erythrocyte survival time of several species suggests an inverse
 HEMATOLOGICAL STUDIES ON CHOLOEPUS DIDACTYLUS 189

relationship between these two characteristics (Marvin). T h u s the addition of

data f r o m the sloth, with its low metabolic activity and extended erythrocytic
life span, fortifies this concept.
Acknowledgements--This research was supported in part by Research Grant RG 6105
from the National Institutes of Health and Contract AT (40-1)-2681 from the Atomic
Energy Commission.

REFERENCES
FEINSTEIN R. N. (1949) Perborate as substrate in a new assay of catalase. J. Biol. Chem.
180, 1197-1202.
MARVIN H. N. (in press) Some metabolic and nutritional factors affecting the survival of
erythrocytes. Amer. J. din. Nutr.
MARVIN H. N. & Lucy D. D. (1957) The survival of radiochromium-tagged erythrocytes
in pigeons, ducks and rabbits. Acts Haera. 18, 239-245.
SPECTORW. S. (1956) Handbook of Biological Data. Saunders, Philadelphia.
SUNDERMANF. W., MACFATER. P., MAcFADYEND. A., SaXVI~SONG. F. & COPELANDB. E.
(1953) Symposium on clinical hemoglobinometry. Amer. J. Clin. Path. 23, 519-598.