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A Critical Evaluation Of Serum Methylmalonic Acid And Vitamin B12 For The Assessment Of Cobalt Deficiency Of Growing Lambs In New Zealand, Tini Gruner, J Sedcole, J Furlong, A Sykes
A Critical Evaluation Of Serum Methylmalonic Acid And Vitamin B12 For The Assessment Of Cobalt Deficiency Of Growing Lambs In New Zealand, Tini Gruner, J Sedcole, J Furlong, A Sykes
Dr Tini M Gruner
AIM: To derive reference ranges for serum methylmalonic acid (MMA) for the diagnosis of cobalt/vitamin B12-responsiveness in lambs and critique existing serum vitamin B12 reference ranges. METHODS: Individual animal data from earlier supplementation trials, involving 225 ewes, 106 suckling lambs, 301 lambs during the suckling and post-weaning periods and 414 weaned lambs, for which weight gain to supplementation was observed, were used to derive relationships between serum vitamin B12 and MMA, and liveweight gain. RESULTS: Serum MMA concentrations were rarely elevated above the norm of <2 >μmol/L when serum vitamin B12 concentrations were >375 pmol/L, and not elevated into the range …