Evaluation of Field Methods for Determining Immunoglobulin in Sucking Foals

Abstract

The aim of the study was to evaluate quick and easy semiquantitative tests for the detection of serum immunoglobulins that are commonly used for to trace the foals with the failure of passive immunity transfer. We compared the four most employed methods -zinc sulphate turbidity tests using photometric or visual reading, glutaraldehyde test and refractometric determination of total protein concentration in serum. Radial immunodiffusion test was used as a reference method. Thirty-eight blood serum samples from foals were used for quantitative estimation of immunoglobulins. The tested methods were correlated with reference method and their availability for tracing of cases of unsuccessful passive transfer immunogobulins was evaluated.The results obtained so far have not allowed us to recommend without reservation any of the compared methods as a reliable test for the determination of blood serum Ig concentrations in newborn foals. On the other hand, the practical usefulness of two of the tested methods (visual reading of turbidity, refractometry) for rapid field identification of hypogammaglobulinaemic foals was confirmed. Of the two, we prefer the refractometric method (sensitivity: 94.11; specificity: 83.30 and predictive value: 88) for common use because it is quicker and easier than other methods. This study pointed out the critical points of the mentioned problem, which have to be studied further.

Comparative analysis of some serum proteins and immunoglobulin G concentration in the blood of Yugoslav Trotter mares and newborn foals

“…feeding colostrum from other mares in cases of failure of passive transfer (FPT). Therefore, semi-quantitative fast tests are suitable for field diagnostics because they enable a rough estimation of immunoglobulin status in just ten minutes, as well as the test of serum dimming by zinc phosphate also applied on the field by other authors (Giguere and Polkes, 2005; Watson, 2009; Sedlinska et al, 2005). Our evaluation confirmed the diagnostic value and applicability of semi-quantitative testing in field conditions.…”

Variation in colostral immunoglobulin G concentration in fat tailed sheep and evaluation of methods for estimation of colostral immunoglobulin content

“…The latter methods showed higher values for IgG than those from SRID. Sedlinská et al (2005) also observed that ZST values were approximately 2 × higher than those obtained by SRID, although they found high correlation between SRID and ZST. Since ZST and Biuret test are not specific to detect IgG, the inability of these methods to appropriately predict the IgG amount could be attributable to the high concentration of immunoglobulins and proteins in colostrum.…”

“…Other methods have also been considered to estimate serum IgG concentration such as precipitation of globulins by zinc sulphate or assessment of total protein by Biuret method (Tizard 2004;Sedlinská et al 2005;Massimini et al 2006); however, the usefulness of these test, in comparison to SRID, for prediction of IgG concentration in colostrum remains to be determined.…”

Serum proteins and their diagnostic utility in veterinary medicine: a review

“…The addition of salts causes turbidity, which may be visually evaluated or measured using a spectrophotometer as units of turbidity. This method may be used as a field test for the evaluation of suckling efficiency or failure of passive transfer of maternal immunity via colostrum in calves and foals (Sedlinska et al 2005;Hogan et al 2015). Currently, the bromcresol green (BCG) and bromcresol purple methods are the basis for the determination of serum albumin (Watanabe et al 2004).…”