Measurement of cardiac troponin I in healthy lactating dairy cows using a point of care analyzer (i-STAT-1)

Abstract

Background: Cardiac troponin I (cTnI) has been shown to be an accurate predictor of myocardial injury in cattle. The point-of-care i-STAT 1 immunoassay can be used to quantify blood cTnI in cattle. However, the cTnI reference interval in whole blood of healthy early lactating dairy cows remains unknown.

Objective: To determine a blood cTnI reference interval in healthy early lactating Holstein dairy cows using the analyzer i-STAT 1.

Methods: Forty healthy lactating dairy Holstein cows (0-60 days in milk) were conveniently selected from four commercial dairy farms. Each selected cow was examined by a veterinarian and transthoracic echocardiography was performed. A cow-side blood cTnI dosage was measured at the same time. A bootstrap statistical analysis method using unrestricted resampling was used to determine a reference interval for blood cTnI values.

Results: Forty healthy cows were recruited in the study. Median blood cTnI was 0.02 ng/mL (minimum: 0.00, maximum: 0.05). Based on the bootstrap analysis method with 40 cases, the 95th percentile of cTnI values in healthy cows was 0.036 ng/mL (90% CI: 0.02-0.05 ng/mL).

Conclusions: A reference interval for blood cTnI values in healthy lactating cows was determined. Further research is needed to determine whether cTnI blood values could be used to diagnose and provide a prognosis for cardiac and noncardiac diseases in lactating dairy cows.

Keywords: Biomarker; Bootstrap; Echocardiography; Reference interval.