. 25 ISSN 0372-5480 Printed in Croatia VeterINarSkI arhIV 89 (1), 25-42, 2019 Reference values and infuence of sex and age on hemogram and clinical biochemistry in protected and endangered Murinsulaner horses Nikica Prvanović Babić 1 *, Antun Kostelić 2 , Branimir Novak 3 , Dragica Šalamon 2 , Bruna Tariba 2 , Nino Maćešić 1 , Tugomir Karadjole 1 , Goran Bačić 1 , and Ljiljana Bedrica 4 1 Clinic for Obstetrics and Reproduction, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia 2 Department for Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia 3 Veterinary station ʺBioinstitutʺ, Čakovec, Croatia 4 Clinic for Internal Deseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia ________________________________________________________________________________________ PRvANović BABić, N., A. KosTeLić, B. NovAK, D. ŠALAMoN, B. TARiBA, N. MAćeŠić, T. KARADjoLe, G. BAčić, Lj. BeDRicA : Reference values and infuence of sex and age on hemogram and clinical biochemistry in protected and endangered Murinsulaner horses . vet. arhiv 89, 25-42, 2019. ABsTRAcT the aim of this study was to establish the exact haematological and clinical biochemistry reference values for horses of the Murinsulaner breed, using the complete population in Croatia (n = 33) for the sampling. haemoglobin concentrations (hB), red blood cell count (rBC), white blood cell count (WBC), packed cell volume (PCV), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration (MChC), mean corpuscular haemoglobin (MCH), platelet count and diferential white blood cell counts were determined. Clinical biochemistry included the activity of GGt, aSt, aLt, Ck, aLP, LDh and aMYL, concentrations of glucose (GLUC), total protein (tP), albumin (aLB), cholesterol (ChOL), triglycerides (trI), calcium (Ca), phosphorus (P), magnesium (Mg), iron (Fe), urea (Urea), creatinine (Crea) and total bilirubin (tBIL). the animals were sorted into groups according to sex and age, and analysis of variance (aNOVa) was preformed using the GLM procedure and tukey’s studentized range test. the results of the two-way aNOVa showed a signifcantly higher mean for CREA in stallions, for ALB in old horses and CK in young horses. The two-way ANOVA showed signifcant diferences in the means for HB, PCV, and globulins, CK, GLUC, ALB and CREA. The signifcantly higher means of HB, PCV, GLUC and CREA in the group of old stallions should be further investigated. The infuence of age and sex is difcult to interpret due to the critically small population. The reference values for Murinsulaner horses are within ranges for other cold-blooded breeds except tP, Ca and Urea. Key words: Murinsulaner horse; hemogram; clinical biochemistry; sex; age ________________________________________________________________________________________ *Corresponding author: Assoc. Prof. Nikica Prvanović Babić, PhD, DVM, Clinic for Obstetrics and Reproduction, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, heinzelova 55, Zagreb, Croatia, Phone: +385 1 2390 320, Fax: +385 1 2441 390, e-mail: nikica@vef.hr DOI: 10.24099/vet.arhiv.0479