The Small Animal Clinical Laboratory
The Small Animal Clinical Laboratory (SACL) is part of FVM, VETUNI Brno. Until 2004, the university’s clinical laboratory activities were performed at clinics or clinical departments. A central clinical laboratory was first built in the early 1970s at the then Department of Diagnostics of Therapy and Prevention. This laboratory represented top a teaching and especially scientific-research facility, which could boldly be compared to the best similar facilities in Europe. With the new political situation in the early 1990s, the orientation towards the most developed countries in Europe and America intensified. The idea of establishing a central clinical laboratory and implementing a new course Clinical Pathology into the FVM curriculum was taken over from countries with advanced veterinary medicine. The Central Clinical Laboratory was established on January 1, 2004. It was not part of any of the established departments but became a separate department-level facility. It was located in the Pavilion of Small Animal Clinics (Building No. 43). Prof., MVDr. Jaroslav Doubek, CSc was appointed head of the laboratory. The laboratory development built on the activities carried out by the haematology laboratory which was part of the then Small Animal Clinic. The laboratory was equipped only with devices for haematological testing, transferred from the clinic. Analysers and microscopes were later procured from the development programme grant. Laboratory diagnostics could then be performed in clinical haematology and clinical biochemistry. Subsequently, a Department of Haematology and a Department of Biochemistry were established in the laboratory. From the profit generated by the laboratory, the equipment was gradually modernized. The structure of the clinical laboratory at FVM was changed on 1 January 2011. The Small Animal Clinical Laboratory (SACL) and the Large Animal Clinical Laboratory (LACL) were established in place of the Central Clinical Laboratory where SACL was structurally integrated into the Section of Small Animal Diseases and LACL into the Section of Large Animal Diseases. Prof. MVDr. Jaroslav Doubek, CSc. was appointed head of SACL.
The objective of the laboratory is to contribute to the determination of the correct diagnosis, to the assessment of the course of the disease, and to the control of the effectiveness of the therapy based on laboratory testing. It provides biochemical analyses, including acid-base examination, haematological, haemostasis, immunological and cytological examinations of biological materials obtained from dogs, cats, small mammals, and zoo animals. Analyses are performed from blood, its derivatives (plasma, serum), urine, effusion, cerebrospinal fluid and lavage. The biochemical examination panel includes a wide range of analyses of substrates, metabolites, acid-base status, electrolytes, osmolality tests, enzymes, and hormones analyses. As part of the haematological examination, determination of blood count parameters (erythrocyte, leukocyte, platelet counts, haemoglobin concentration, haematocrit values and erythrocyte indices) may be required, furthermore, the white blood cell differential, the reticulocytes count, including the determination of their maturation degree, the coagulation profile, and several other above-standard parameters. The spectrum of immunological analyses includes the detection of some classes of immunoglobulins and the performance of the Coombs test, the laboratory is ready to perform immunophenotyping of blood malignancies, determine the levels of some cytokines, and acute phase proteins. Furthermore, analyses of faeces for cortisol content, metabolites of progesterone and oestrogen in zoo animals, and cytological examination of effusions and lavages are performed. Most of the clientele comes from the Small Animal Clinic. The laboratory register also includes many private veterinarians not only from Brno and its surroundings but also from more distant places in the Czech Republic.
The Small Animal Clinical Laboratory, in addition to its basic mission, i.e., to provide quality laboratory services to the client, focuses on the refinement of the reference values of some analytes, the extension of the reference values by certain analytes and groups or categories of animals, the elaboration of laboratory profiles of selected diseases and the elaboration of diagnostic algorithms for important groups of diseases.
Teaching
The Small Animal Clinical Laboratory is an important teaching facility. The importance of the laboratory as a teaching facility has increased with the introduction of the new curriculum approved in 2012. Since the start of the laboratory, the restrictive elective course of Clinical Pathology in the Czech and English programmes has been taught here and also the restrictive elective one-semester course of Veterinary Haematology for students of both veterinary faculties. In the laboratory, practical seminars of one-semester course Laboratory Diagnostics in Pet Animals are carried out for FVM students, and restrictive elective one-semester courses of Basics of Laboratory Diagnostics of Non-Communicable Diseases, Laboratory Diagnostics in Small and Large Animals - interpretation and laboratory diagnostic algorithms in internal veterinary medicine. The Small Animal Clinical Laboratory is also a place where selected parts of the courses Physiology and Pathological Physiology are taught to students of both veterinary faculties (physiology and pathophysiology of blood and blood-forming organs, the internal environment, and metabolism). The laboratory is also used for practical seminars of Laboratory Examination of Samples II - Haematology for students in Animal Protection and Welfare degree programme. In the laboratory, FVM students complete their work experience in laboratory diagnostics. Students of the master’s and doctoral degree programme work here on their research and dissertation theses.
Laboratory teaching staff participated in creating the following teaching materials: Interpretation of Basic Biochemical and Haematological Findings in Animals, Basics of Laboratory Diagnostics of Non-Infectious Diseases, Glossary of Laboratory Diagnostics, Haematological and Cytological Atlas, Laboratory Diagnostic Algorithms for Clinical Practice. In collaboration with authors from UNAM México, it was the Manual of Practical Clinical Pathology (2010). Several papers focused on laboratory diagnostics have been published in the journals Veterinary Practice and Veterinary Clinic and presented at seminars and conferences.
Students and young academic staff also use SACL for research in projects under IGA VETUNI Brno and IVA VETUNI Brno.
Facilities, instrumentation, and equipment
The Small Animal Clinical Laboratory is located in the Small Animal Clinic Pavilion. It is divided into four departments: haematology, biochemistry, immunology, and cytology. Within its options, it is gradually moving towards automation and rationalization of its activities using the principles of good laboratory practice and a system of continuous quality improvement. The laboratory is equipped with modern automatic analysers for biochemical, acid-base, immunochemical, haematological and haemostasis examinations, furthermore, fluorescence microscope, flow cytometer, teaching microscopes and laminar box. The integration of input and output data is enabled by the electronic information system WinVet
Prominent professors in the history of the laboratory
Prof. MVDr. Jaroslav Doubek, CSc. – the founder of the laboratory, representative of clinical laboratory medicine for small animals
text: Prof. MVDr. Jaroslav Doubek, CSc.
