Evaluation of plasma carboxyl-terminal cross-linking telopeptide of type I collagen concentration in horses

Abstract

Objective - To evaluate a human assay for quantification of carboxy-terminal cross-linking telopeptide of type I collagen (CTX-I), assess the influence of age on plasma CTX-I concentration, investigate the relationship between plasma CTX-I and serum osteocalcin concentrations, and determine whether concentrations of plasma CTX-I or serum osteocalcin fluctuate in circadian manner in horses. Horses - 75 clinically normal horses. Procedure - Cross-reactivity between equine serum CTX-I and CTX-I antibodies in an automated electro-chemiluminescent sandwich antibody assay (ECLIA) was evaluated via a specificity test (ie, dilution test) and recovery calculation. Serum osteocalcin concentration was measured with an equine-specific osteocalcin radioimmunoassay. To analyze diurnal variations in plasma CTX-I and serum osteocalcin concentrations, blood samples were obtained hourly during a 24-hour period. Results - Results of the dilution test indicated good correlation (r > 0.99) between expected serum CTX-I concentrations and measured serum CTX-I concentrations. The calculated CTX-I recovery was 97.6% to 109.9%. Plasma CTX-I and serum osteocalcin concentrations were correlated. Plasma CTX-I concentration was inversely correlated with age of the horse. No significant circadian variations in plasma CTX-I and serum osteocalcin concentrations were detected. Conclusions and Clinical Relevance - Results suggest that the fully automated CTX-I ECLIA can be used for evaluation of plasma and serum samples from horses and may be a useful tool to monitor bone metabolism changes. Horses in this study did not have notable diurnal fluctuations in serum osteocalcin and plasma CTX-I concentrations.