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. 2016 Mar 12;4(1):cow006.
doi: 10.1093/conphys/cow006. eCollection 2016.

Calibration of the HemoCue point-of-care analyser for determining haemoglobin concentration in a lizard and a fish

Sarah J Andrewartha  1 , Suzanne L Munns  2 , Ashley Edwards  3
Affiliations

Calibration of the HemoCue point-of-care analyser for determining haemoglobin concentration in a lizard and a fish

Sarah J Andrewartha et al. Conserv Physiol. .

Abstract

Haemoglobin concentration ([Hb]) is measured for a wide variety of animal studies. The use of point-of-care devices, such as the HemoCue, is becoming increasingly common because of their portability, relative ease of use and low cost. In this study, we aimed to determine whether the [Hb] of blue-tongued skink (Tiliqua nigrolutea) blood can be determined accurately using the HemoCue and whether the HemoCue overestimates the [Hb] of reptile blood in a similar manner to fish blood. Additionally, we aimed to test whether ploidy affected [Hb] determined by the HemoCue using blood from diploid and triploid Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar). The HemoCue Hb 201(+) systematically overestimated [Hb] in both blue-tongued skinks and Atlantic salmon, and there was no difference between calibration equations determined for diploid or triploid salmon. The overestimation was systematic in both species and, as such, [Hb] determined by the HemoCue can be corrected using appropriate calibration equations.

Keywords: Diploid; HemoCue; fish; haemoglobin concentration; reptile; triploid.

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Figures

Figure 1:
Figure 1:
(A) Comparison of haemoglobin concentration ([Hb]) determined using HemoCue system and Drabkin’s method in blue-tongued skinks (grey squares), triploid (open circles) and diploid (filled circles) Atlantic salmon. Continuous lines are species-specific regressions for skinks (y = 0.885x + 7.498, r2 = 0.985) and salmon (y = 0.820x − 5.831, r2 = 0.975) with 95% confidence intervals (dotted). The long dashed line represents the line of equality and the short dashed line is fish blood taken from Clark et al. (2008). (B) [Hb] measured using Drabkin’s method against the difference in [Hb] determined by Drabkin’s method and the Hemocue {Δ[Hb], equation (3)}. The dashed line is the line of equality.
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