Erythrocyte arginase activities and comparison by gender of sheep breeds in the Elazig region

This study aims to make a comparison of the arginase enzyme levels in the erythrocytes of the male and female groups of Akkaraman, Morkaraman, and İvesi sheep races in Elazığ province. The erythrocyte arginase activities of the blood samples taken from the sheep races were measured through Thiosemicarbazide Diacetyl Monoxime Urea (TDMU) method. Hemoglobin was determined through Hemoglobin cyanide method. Arginase (E.C.3.5.3.1.) is an enzyme catalyzing the last stage of the Krebs-Henseleit urea cycle and transforming arginine into urea and ornithine. Though erythrocytes cannot synthesize urea through urea cycle, an active arginase was confronted in human, cattle, and sheep erythrocytes. As all p values were found to be over 0.05 in the normality tests carried out for all groups, a statistically significant difference was found between the groups. When we analyze the all tribes male and female arginase activities, we have found that Akkaraman male group arginase activity was higher than the female group however Morkaraman male group arginase activities were detected to be lower than the female group. Also the İvesi group of male arginase activities were found to be lower in comparison to the female groups at the end of the studies performed earlier. It has been concluded that, the arginase activity difference between the genders for all the tribes was statistically significant. Key words: Arginase, urea, erythrocyte, Akkaraman, Morkaraman, İvesi, arginine, urea cycle