By diluting (1:10,000) the whole blood in a phosphate buffer saline
(PBS) solution, total red blood cell (RBC) and white blood cell (WBC)
counts of each sample were determined three times using a hemo-
cytometer (Lim et al., 2009). Hemoglobin (Hb) was determined by
measuring the formation of cyanomethemoglobin (Van Kampen and
Zijlstra, 1961). Hematocrit (Ht) was determined by centrifuging the
whole blood using heparinized microhematocrit tubes at 5000 g for
5min(Azim and Little, 2008).