Age-Related Developmental Clotting Profile and Platelet Aggregation in Foals Over the First Month of Life

• Clotting profile assessed in foals during the first month of age.
• Platelet's aggregation assessed in foals during the first month of age.
• Statistical changes occurred on studied parameters.
• Our results show how hemostatic parameters change during the early postnatal period.
• The study provides information on coagulation tests to monitor foal's hemostasis.

This study aimed to evaluate how selected clotting parameters and platelets' responsiveness change in healthy full-term foals during the first 4 weeks after foaling. Blood samples were collected from each animal every 3 days from day 1 until day 30 after foaling and were tested for prothrombin time (PT), activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT), fibrinogen (Fb) concentration, platelet (Plt) count, percentage of aggregation and slope. One-way repeated measures analysis of variance, followed by Bonferroni post hoc comparison test, was applied to determine statistical effect of day of life on studied hemostatic parameters. Significant effect of time was found for PT (P < .0005), APTT (P < .0001), and Fb concentration (P < .05). No statistical significant effect of days of life was found for Plt (P = .19), whereas platelets aggregation changed (P < .0001) during the experimental period. The results obtained in the present study improves the knowledge about blood coagulation and platelet responsiveness in foals during the first month of life showing how hemostatic parameters change at this stage and provide specific information on routine coagulation tests that may support monitoring foal's hemostatic profile during neonatal period.