Giordano Alessia, Paltrinieri Saverio
Department of Veterinary Pathology, University of Milan, Milan, Italy.
Vet Clin Pathol. 2010 Dec;39(4):464-73. doi: 10.1111/j.1939-165X.2010.00255.x. Epub 2010 Oct 7.
Serum protein electrophoresis is widely used for diagnostic and research purposes. Cellulose acetate (CAE) and agarose gel (AGE) electrophoresis are the most frequently used methods, but capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) is beginning to be used more in veterinary laboratories. However, reference intervals for CZE in animals and comparison studies with the other electrophoretic techniques are lacking, compromising the diagnostic utility of CZE.
The aims of this study were to compare results obtained using CAE, AGE, and CZE; to establish reference intervals for CZE in dogs and cats; and to assess the capacity of CZE to detect abnormalities identified by AGE.
Serum samples from 204 dogs, including 104 healthy animals, and 62 cats, including 28 healthy animals, were analyzed using automated systems for CAE, AGE, and CZE. Descriptive statistics and Passing-Bablok and Bland-Altman tests were used to compare results. For each technique, reference intervals were calculated based on results from healthy animals. Concordance between CZE and AGE in detecting pathologic changes was assessed using Cohen's k coefficient.
For most protein fractions, values obtained by CAE, AGE, and CZE were significantly different from each other, and constant and proportional errors were often detected. Nevertheless, reference intervals obtained by the 3 techniques overlapped. Moreover, Cohen's k coefficient demonstrated that the capacity of CZE and AGE to detect pathologic changes was comparable.
CZE performs comparably to AGE and CAE as long as CZE-specific reference intervals are used for interpretation and distinctive visual patterns for albumin, gaps between fractions, and subpeaks found on CZE tracings are recognized. In addition, CZE offers several technical advantages, such as ease of use and complete automation.
血清蛋白电泳广泛用于诊断和研究目的。醋酸纤维素（CAE）和琼脂糖凝胶（AGE）电泳是最常用的方法，但毛细管区带电泳（CZE）在兽医实验室中的使用也越来越多。然而，目前缺乏动物CZE的参考区间以及与其他电泳技术的比较研究，这影响了CZE的诊断效用。
本研究旨在比较CAE、AGE和CZE的检测结果；建立犬猫CZE的参考区间；评估CZE检测AGE所识别异常的能力。
使用CAE、AGE和CZE的自动化系统分析了204只犬（包括104只健康动物）和62只猫（包括28只健康动物）的血清样本。采用描述性统计以及Passing-Bablok和Bland-Altman检验来比较结果。对于每种技术，根据健康动物的结果计算参考区间。使用Cohen's k系数评估CZE和AGE在检测病理变化方面的一致性。
对于大多数蛋白质组分，CAE、AGE和CZE获得的值彼此显著不同，并且经常检测到恒定误差和比例误差。然而，这三种技术获得的参考区间有重叠。此外，Cohen's k系数表明CZE和AGE检测病理变化的能力相当。
只要使用CZE特定的参考区间进行解读，并识别出CZE图谱上白蛋白的独特视觉模式、组分间的间隙和亚峰，CZE与AGE和CAE的表现相当。此外，CZE还具有一些技术优势，如使用方便和完全自动化。
