Validation study : HemoCue Hb 201 + as a tool in comparative physiological field studies on avian blood

• Main Author: Gustavsson, Frida
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: Linköpings universitet, Biologi 2015
• Subjects: HemoCue Hb 201 +; Drabkin´s method; validation study; avian blood; haemoglobin concentration; mean corpuscular volume
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-120106

Haemoglobin concentration is becoming a widely popular parameter to use to assess physiological condition within a broad range of species. Assessments of large populations would preferable be done in field to receive quick results and avoid confounding factors associated with transport of blood. A validation study is here performed to see how well the point-of-care device HemoCue Hb 201 + can assess haemoglobin concentration on avian blood. Nucleated erythrocytes have previously been pointed out as something that makes it problematic to apply HemoCue Hb 201 +, designed for human blood, on avian blood. Here it is shown that HemoCue Hb 201 + accurately can estimate haemoglobin concentration for chicken-, tinamou-, and ostrich blood. However, manipulation of ostrich cells, to yield a larger mean corspuscular volume, results in HemoCue Hb 201 + overestimating haemoglobin concentration. A large mean corpuscular volume could therefore be something that impair accuracy in values retrieved with HemoCue Hb 201 +. This study shows that HemoCue Hb 201 + seems possible to apply on avian blood to some extent, but highlights the importance of validation studies when applying this device on new species.