title: Technical pre-analytical effects on the clinical biochemistry of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.).
abstract: Clinical biochemistry has long been utilized in human and veterinary medicine as a vital diagnostic tool, but despite occasional studies showing its usefulness in monitoring health status in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.), it has not yet been widely utilized within the aquaculture industry. This is due, in part, to a lack of an agreed protocol for collection and processing of blood prior to analysis. Moreover, while the analytical phase of clinical biochemistry is well controlled, there is a growing understanding that technical pre-analytical variables can influence analyte concentrations or activities. In addition, post-analytical interpretation of treatment effects is variable in the literature, thus making the true effect of sample treatment hard to evaluate. Therefore, a number of pre-analytical treatments have been investigated to examine their effect on analyte concentrations and activities. In addition, reference ranges for salmon plasma biochemical analytes have been established to inform veterinary practitioners and the aquaculture industry of the importance of clinical biochemistry in health and disease monitoring. Furthermore, a standardized protocol for blood collection has been proposed.
authors.affiliation: The Centre For Aquaculture Technologies, Souris, Prince Edward Island, Canada.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Braceland
authors.affiliation: School of Veterinary Medicine, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Houston
authors.affiliation: Fish Vet Group, Inverness, UK.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ashby
authors.affiliation: Fish Vet Group, Inverness, UK.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Matthews
authors.affiliation: School of Veterinary Medicine, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Haining
authors.affiliation: Fish Vet Group, Inverness, UK.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Rodger
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK.
authors.forename: P D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Eckersall
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017756:Aquaculture / Q000379:methods*; D001774:Blood Chemical Analysis / Q000662:veterinary*; D005260:Female; D005393:Fish Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008297:Male; D020317:Salmo salar / Q000097:blood*; D012606:Scotland
keywords: Biochemistry; Health monitoring; Non-destructive; Pre-analytical effects; clinical biochemistry; diagnostics; pre-analytical; reference range; salmon