[Use of the Reflotron system for the determination of creatine kinase (CK) in the blood of swine, sheep, cattle, horses and dogs].

The research article is about an evaluation of the Reflotron-CK test method in comparison with the traditional CK-NAC test (UV Method) for determining creatine kinase levels in the blood of different animals including pigs, sheep, cattle, horses, and dogs.

Research Methodology

• The study involved the evaluation of the Reflotron-CK test, a method used for determining creatine kinase (CK) level in blood. This CK test was applied to samples from different types of animals, namely pigs, sheep, cattle, horses, and dogs.
• The researchers compared the Reflotron-CK test with a traditional CK-NAC test, also known as the UV Method.
• The precision of both testing methods was compared, focusing mainly on the accuracy of results within a series on the day of blood sampling. Precision was measured using the coefficient of variation, with both tests having a coefficient of variation better than VK = 7.5%.
• The researchers also measured day-to-day precision of both methods using deep frozen plasma.

Findings

• The study found that fresh whole blood of sheep, cattle, horses, and dogs should be directly applied onto the dry reagent carrier with the Reflotron-pipette (32 microliters), while pig blood samples need to be diluted (using 200 microliters of a 0.9% NaCl solution and 32 microliters of blood).
• According to the paper, the correlation between Reflotron-CK and CK values ascertained with the standard UV-method was satisfactory (r greater than 0.96) across all the animal species involved in the research.
• However, systemic deviations of the Reflotron-CK values were noted, and it was suggested that these should be corrected using calculation formulae provided in the paper.

Implications

• This research highlights the potential of the Reflotron system in determining CK levels in the blood of different animals, being at par with the standard UV-method. This could be significant for veterinary medicine, especially in the accurate diagnosis of diseases across different animal species.
• The results also suggest potential adaptations required for different animals, particularly the necessity to dilute pig blood samples.