Creatinine is a product of muscle breakdown. In healthy animals the rate of muscle breakdown and, therefore, creatinine release into the blood is fairly steady. It is filtered out of the blood by the kidney and reabsorption does not occur as it does with BUN. Because it is not influenced by an animal's diet or the GFR of the kidney, it is a more reliable test for kidney function than BUN although they are often both analyzed together.
Increased creatinine may be caused by:
-Kidney failure: if the kidney isn't functioning properly it won't filter the creatinine out of the blood and it will build up.
-Muscle damage: increased creatinine values would be expected in animals with muscle damage such as hit-by-car cases or animals that have recently been over-exercised.
Decreased creatinine levels may be caused by:
-Decreased muscle mass: less muscle will result in less metabolism and, therefore, less creatinine produced.
No comments:
Post a Comment