The use of selected electrophoretic techniques to assess the health of domestic cats (Felis catus)

Jania, Bartosz; Andraszek, Katarzyna; Wójcik, Ewa; Dmitruk, Maria

The use of selected electrophoretic techniques to assess the health of domestic cats (Felis catus)

Journal of Veterinary Research

AHEAD OF PRINT

By: Bartosz Jania

, Katarzyna Andraszek

, Ewa Wójcik

and Maria Dmitruk

Open Access

|Oct 2025

Figures & Tables

Electrophoretic separation and histogram – cat No. 1

Cytology slide – cat No. 1. (a) neutrophil granulocytes, platelets and red blood cells, visible rouleaux; (b) eosinophilic segmental granulocyte, platelets and red blood cells, visible rouleaux (b)

Image of a comet assay on lysed whole blood from a cat. (a) nearly all the genetic material remained in the head of the comet; (b) nearly all the genetic material has migrated to the tail of the comet

Results of protein electrophoresis, immunoassays, haematological analysis and the comet assay in cats with pathological results

	Electrophoresis (g/L)					FIV	FeLV	FIP	Blood count				Comet assay		Overall condition
	Alb	α	β	γ	B. c.	FIV	FeLV	FIP	WBC	LYM	MON	GRA	Head DNA%	Tail DNA%	Overall condition
1	20.06↓	20.74↑	13.21↑	12.99	67	−	+	−	4.90↓	2.5	0.1↓	2.4	64.21	35.79	Good
2	33.91	14.05↑	10.22↑	20.82↑	79	−	−	+	20.40↑	4.7↑	0.2↓	15.5↑	78.9	21.10	Good
3	41.96↑	15.98↑	13.21↑	30.85↑	102↑	−	−	−	21.9↑	8.5↑	2.0↑	11.4↑	83.22	16.78	Good
4	38.76	12.90↑	6.72	21.62↑	80	−	−	−	14.7	4.0↑	1.2↑	9.6↑	83.97	16.03	Good
5	37.59	19.97↑	10.67↑	21.77↑	90↑	+	−	−	2.70↓	0.2↓	0.0↓	2.5	79.95	20.09	Upper respiratory infection
6	33.75	13.66↑	10.45↑	20.14↑	78	−	−	−	9.90	6.2↑	0.3	3.5	80.37	19.63	Good
7	37.49	13.38↑	9.33↑	18.8↑	79	−	−	−	19.8↑	4.0↑	1.2↑	14.6↑	83.11	16.89	Good
8	24.45↓	15.77↑	7.12	25.67↑	73	−	−	−	9.0	3.8↑	0.9↑	4.3	70.47	29.53	Good
9	26.94↓	16.51↑	11.57↑	28.98↑	84↑	−	−	−	13.5	3.9↑	1.2↑	8.4↑	78.38	21.62	Good
10	31.5	12.1	8.19	24.21 ↑	76	−	−	−	5.60↓	1.3	0.2↓	4.0	83.8	16.20	Stomatitis
11	28.00	12.46↑	8.54	32.02↑	81↑	−	−	+	5.60↓	2.0	0.5	3.1	68.08	31.92	Good
12	33.15	12.79↑	10.63↑	25.43↑	82↑	−	−	−	30.8↑	8.3↑	1.5↑	20.9↑	78.54	21.46	Good
13	28.12	10.11	9.05↑	38.72↑	86↑	−	−	−	21.6↑	4.8↑	1.5↑	15.3↑	78.93	21.07	Upper respiratory infection
14	34.52	13.25↑	9.61 ↑	24.62↑	82↑	−	−	−	18.9↑	7.0↑	1.7↑	10.2↑	79.43	20.57	Good
15	31.41	13.52↑	9.84↑	23.23↑	78	−	−	−	12.6	3.8↑	1.3↑	7.6↑	79.92	20.08	Good
16	33.10	16.18↑	11.69↑	9.03↓	70	−	−	−	9.1	3.5↑	0.6	5.0	80.45	19.55	Good
17	32.6	11.72	10.58↑	23.1↑	78	−	−	−	8.9	1.6	0.5	6.8	82.47	17.53	Good
18	27.02	12.58↑	7.19	49.21 ↑	96↑	−	−	−	19.2	6.7↑	1.3↑	11.1↑	78.38	21.62	Upper respiratory infection
19	35.25	8.25	7.66	20.85↑	72	−	−	−	8.5	2.1	0.8	5.6	80.7	19.30	Good
20	24.78↓	13.55↑	10.34↑	12.33	61	−	−	−	7.1	2.0	0.6	4.5	82.78	17.22	Good
21	24.53↓	10.71	6.84	17.93	70	−	+	−	17.7	2.7	1.2↑	13.8↑	65.07	34.93	Good
22	26.12↓	12.65↑	10.55↑	26.68↑	76	−	−	−	6.7	2.0	0.5	4.2	72.36	27.64	Good
23	18.20↓	11.64	5.96	18.20	54↓	+	−	−	15.30	4.0↑	0.8	10.6↑	64.21	35.79	Good
24	25.79↓	15.69↑	8.23	12.29	62	−	−	−	6.70	2.0	0.5	4.2	67.23	32.77	Upper respiratory infection
25	26.05↓	14.42↑	9.57↑	20.96↑	71	−	−	−	8.50	2.9	0.2↓	5.4	67.00	33.00	Upper respiratory infection

Concentrations of individual protein fractions in serum protein electrophoresis – cat No_ 1

Fraction	Relative area (%)	Concentration (g/L)	Range (g/L)	Albumin-to-globulin ratio
Albumins	29.93	20.06↓	27–39
α-globulins	30.96	20.74↑	6.5–12.1
β-globulins	19.72	13.21↑	4.5–8.7
γ-globulins	19.39	12.99	10.0–18.6
Total protein		67	60–80
A/G ratio				0.43

Means for Head DNA% and Tail DNA% in comet assays on lysed whole blood of cats with impaired DNA integrity

Cat	Head DNA%		Tail DNA%
Cat	Mean	Standard deviation	Mean	Standard deviation
1	64.21^b	29.10	35.79^a	29.10
2	78.90^ba	21.45	21.10^ba	21.45
3	83.22^a	14.34	16.78^b	14.34
4	83.97^a	17.57	16.03^b	17.57
5	79.95^ba	17.56	20.09^ba	17.56
6	80.37^ba	18.87	19.63^ba	18.87
7	83.11^a	15.90	16.89^b	15.90
8	70.47^ba	25.54	29.53^ba	25.54
9	78.38^ba	17.23	21.62^ba	17.23
10	83.80^a	15.41	16.20^b	15.41
11	68.08^ba	32.72	31.92^ba	32.72
12	78.54^ba	17.39	21.46^ba	17.39
13	78.93^ba	17.47	21.07^ba	17.47
14	79.43^ba	17.59	20.57^ba	17.59
15	79.92^ba	17.54	20.08^ba	17.54
16	80.45^ba	17.56	19.55^ba	17.56
17	82.47^a	18.25	17.53^b	18.25
18	78.38^ba	17.23	21.62^ba	17.23
19	80.70^ba	17.79	19.30^ba	17.79
20	82.78^a	18.44	17.22^b	18.44
21	65.07^b	29.93	34.93^a	29.93
22	72.36^ba	30.58	27.64^ba	30.58
23	64.21^b	29.10	35.79^a	29.10
24	67.23^ba	31.09	32.77^ba	31.09
25	67.00^ba	30.53	33.00^ba	30.53
Total	76.48	21.45	23.52	21.45

Means for Head DNA% and Tail DNA% in comet assays on lysed whole blood of cats with normal DNA integrity

Cat	Head DNA%		Tail DNA%
Cat	Mean	Standard deviation	Mean	Standard deviation
1	99.44^ba	1.56	0.56^ba	1.56
2	99.92^a	0.19	0.08^b	0.19
3	99.29^ba	2.22	0.71^ba	2.22
4	98.29^b	4.17	1.71^a	4.17
5	99.59^ba	0.72	0.41^ba	0.72
6	99.70^a	0.61	0.30^b	0.61
7	99.65^a	0.64	0.35^b	0.64
8	99.24^ba	2.35	0.76^ba	2.35
9	99.93^a	0.25	0.07^b	0.25
10	99.91^a	0.18	0.09^b	0.18
11	99.76^a	0.45	0.24^b	0.45
12	99.79^a	0.30	0.21^b	0.30
13	99.95^a	0.16	0.05^b	0.16
14	99.61^a	1.96	0.39^b	1.96
15	99.98^a	0.09	0.02^b	0.09
16	99.94^a	0.16	0.06^b	0.16
17	99.75^a	1.09	0.25^b	1.09
18	98.95^ba	5.78	1.05^ba	5.78
19	98.91^ba	3.18	1.09^ba	3.18
20	99.43^ba	1.74	0.57^ba	1.74
21	99.93^a	0.12	0.07^b	0.12
22	99.96^a	0.13	0.04^b	0.13
23	99.96^a	0.14	0.04^b	0.14
24	99.98^a	0.08	0.02^b	0.08
25	99.83^a	0.28	0.17^b	0.28
Total	99.63	1.14	0.37	1.14

Comet assay results on lysed whole blood – cat No_ 1

Head DNA (%)		Tail DNA (%)
Mean	Standard deviation	Mean	Standard deviation
64.21	29.10	35.79	29.10

Haematological analysis – cat No_ 1

Parameter	Result	Reference
WBC	4.90↓	6.0–18.0×10³/mm³
RBC	3.31↓	6.5–10.0×10⁶/mm³
HGB	3.40↓	6.2–9.3 mmol/L
HCT	0.15↓	0.30–0.45
MCV	46	39–55 μm³
MCHC	22.3	18.6–22.3 mmol/L
PLT	230	200–600×10³/mm³
%LYM	50	20–55 %
%MON	2	1–10 %
%GRA	48	35–75 %
LYM	2.5	1.2–3.2×103/mm³
MON	0.1↓	0.3–0.8×103/mm³
GRA	2.4	1.2–6.8×10³/mm³

Values of Student’s t-test of the differences between DNA in cats with impaired and normal DNA integrity evaluated using the comet assay

Health status	Head DNA (%)			Tail DNA (%)
Health status	Mean	t-test value	P-value	Mean	t-test value	P-value
Cats with normal DNA integrity	99.62	16.91	0.000	0.37	17.01	0.000
Cats with impaired DNA integrity	76.48			23.52

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jvetres-2025-0062 | Journal eISSN: 2450-8608

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Language: English

Submitted on: May 14, 2025

Accepted on: Oct 24, 2025

Published on: Oct 30, 2025

Published by: National Veterinary Research Institute in Pulawy

In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services

Publication frequency: 4 issues per year

Keywords:

cat,

Related subjects:

Microbiology and virology,

Life sciences, other,

Medicine,

Veterinary medicine

© 2025 Bartosz Jania, Katarzyna Andraszek, Ewa Wójcik, Maria Dmitruk, published by National Veterinary Research Institute in Pulawy
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

AHEAD OF PRINT

The use of selected electrophoretic techniques to assess the health of domestic cats (Felis catus)

Figures & Tables

Fig. 1.

Fig. 2.

Fig. 3.

Results of protein electrophoresis, immunoassays, haematological analysis and the comet assay in cats with pathological results

Concentrations of individual protein fractions in serum protein electrophoresis – cat No_ 1

Means for Head DNA% and Tail DNA% in comet assays on lysed whole blood of cats with impaired DNA integrity

Means for Head DNA% and Tail DNA% in comet assays on lysed whole blood of cats with normal DNA integrity

Comet assay results on lysed whole blood – cat No_ 1

Haematological analysis – cat No_ 1

Values of Student’s t-test of the differences between DNA in cats with impaired and normal DNA integrity evaluated using the comet assay

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