title: Assessment of the use of temperature-sensitive microchips to determine core body temperature in goats.
abstract: Body temperature was measured at five different body sites (retroperitoneum, groin, semimembranosus muscle, flank and shoulder) using temperature-sensitive microchips implanted in five female goats, and compared with the core body and rectal temperatures. Body temperature was measured while the goats were kept in different ambient temperatures, with and without radiant heat, as well as during a fever induced experimentally by injection of bacterial lipopolysaccharide. Bland-Altman limit of agreement analysis was used to compare the temperature measurements at the different body sites during the different interventions. Temperatures measured by the microchip implanted in the retroperitoneum showed the closest agreement (mean 0.2 °C lower) with core and rectal temperatures during all interventions, whereas temperatures measured by the microchips implanted in the groin, muscle, flank and shoulder differed from core body temperature by up to 3.5 °C during the various interventions.
authors.affiliation: Brain Function Research Group, School of Physiology, University of the Witwatersrand, Medical School, 7 York Road, Parktown 2193, Johannesburg, South Africa. nadinetwenty5@gmail.com
authors.forename: N A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Torrao
authors.forename: R S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Hetem
authors.forename: L C R
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Meyer
authors.forename: L G
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: Fick
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001831:Body Temperature / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006041:Goats / Q000502:physiology*; D046208:Microchip Analytical Procedures / Q000662:veterinary*; D012007:Rectum / Q000502:physiology; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012187:Retroperitoneal Space / Q000502:physiology; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity