Investigation of a Portable Lipid-Based Analyzer for On-Site Detection of Pansteatitis in the Whole Blood of Healthy and Diseased Mozambique Tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus)

Published

May 16, 2016

Author(s)

John Bowden, Stephen E. Somerville, Theresa M. Cantu, Matthew P. Guillette, Hannes Botha, Ashley S. Boggs-Russell, Wilmien Luus-Powell

Abstract

While no pansteatitis-related large-scale mortality events have occurred since 2008, the current status of pansteatitis (presence and pervasiveness) in the Olifants River system and other regions of South Africa remains unknown. In part, this is due to both a lack of known biomarkers of pansteatitis and a lack of suitable assays capable of surveying the disease. Here, we propose the application of a point-of-care (POC) device, specifically the CardioChek device using lipid-based strips (total cholesterol (TC) and total triglyceride (TG)), for classifying pansteatitis in the whole blood of Mozambique tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus) during the pre-spawning period. The Cardiochek device performed well in the field, exhibiting excellent reproducibility (the average relative standard deviation for TC and TG was 4 % and 5 %, respectively). Further, the Cardiochek device, using the TC strips, was able to classify the tilapia as either healthy or pansteatitis-affected; the sexes were examined independently because sexual dimorphism was observed (males p = 0.0364, females χ2 = 0.0007). No significant difference between diseased and non-diseased fish was observed using the TG strips. Beyond the ability to classify pansteatitis, a discussion on the merits of this device as an in-field “environmental” disease-state diagnostic tool is also provided.

Citation

Analytical Methods

Volume

8

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.1039/c6ay00446f

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Keywords

Pansteatitis, Cardiochek, Total Cholesterol, Total Triglyceride, Mozambique Tilapia, Point of Care Diagnostics

Citation

Bowden, J. , Somerville, S. , Cantu, T. , Guillette, M. , Botha, H. , Boggs-Russell, A. and Luus-Powell, W. (2016), Investigation of a Portable Lipid-Based Analyzer for On-Site Detection of Pansteatitis in the Whole Blood of Healthy and Diseased Mozambique Tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus), Analytical Methods, [online], https://doi.org/10.1039/c6ay00446f (Accessed October 7, 2025)