2010 Volume 63 Issue 6 Pages 449-452
We conducted a clinical evaluation of an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit for the determination of the plasma insulin concentrations in cats. The variation coefficient of intra-assay reproducibility tests and the coefficient of the inter assay reproducibility test were 2.4% and 2.9%, respectively. The approximate straight line of the dilution test showed linearity. Recovery rates using the standard addition method ranged from 94.0% to 99.4%. Insulin concentrations determined in serum, EDTA plasma and heparinized plasma were nearly identical. Fasting plasma insulin concentrations were 0.462 ±0.194 ng/ml in 68 clinically healthy cats, and resembled the data in previous reports using radioimmunoassays for determination of human plasma insulin concentrations. Fasting plasma insulin concentrations were 0.744 ±0.239 ng/ml in 19 obese cats, and 0.362 ±0.175 ng/ml in eight cats with diabetes. The insulin concentrations in obese cats were significantly higher than in healthy and diabetic cats. In the glucose tolerance test, plasma insulin concentrations increased gradually. This assay kit is clinically useful for the determination of plasma insulin concentration in cats.
