Applicability of Commercial Clinical Chemistry Test Kits for Horse Serum

Abstract

Objective: Validation of a test method is critical for confirming that the test can generate accurate and precise data. Although commercial biochemical test kits exist there is no specific and validated commercial clinical chemistry test kits designed for horse. The aim of this study was to validate commercial clinical chemistry test kits designed for human serum for use in horses. Result: Blood samples were collected from 29 apparently healthy adult horses and pooled serum was prepared. Validation comprises replication and recovery experiments. Total observable error (TEo%), Sigma metrics and quality goal index (QGI) were used to support the validation studies. Intra- and inter-assay variability was 2.05% and 2.08%, 2.26% and 1.89%, 2.4% and 1.63%, for total cholesterol urea and total protein for respectively; recovery was 99.46%, 97.32% and 100.1% for total cholesterol urea and total protein for respectively. TEo% for the specified analytes was within the allowable error. All the three anaytes satisfied the recommended requirement (>3 sigma values). The QGI for urea, as it had below 6σ was 0.95 indicating imprecision and inaccuracy. The results endorse the suitability of the studied commercial test kits and illustrated the acceptance criteria for serum collected from horse.