SAGE-Hindawi Access to Research Veterinary Medicine International Volume 2010, Article ID 418596, 5 pages doi:10.4061/2010/418596 Research Article Evaluation of a Portable Automated Serum Chemistry Analyzer for Field Assessment of Harlequin Ducks, Histrionicus histrionicus Michael K. Stoskopf,1 Daniel M. Mulcahy,2 and Daniel Esler2, 3 1 Environmental Medicine Consortium and Department of Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University, 4700 Hillsborough Street, Raleigh, NC 27606, USA 2 U.S. Geological Survey, Alaska Science Center, 4210 University Drive, Anchorage, AK 99508, USA 3 Centre for Wildlife Ecology, Simon Fraser University, 5421 Robertson Road, RR1, Delta, BC, Canada V4K 3N2 Correspondence should be addressed to Michael K. Stoskopf, michael stoskopf@ncsu.edu Received 1 September 2009; Revised 19 December 2009; Accepted 21 January 2010 Academic Editor: Cinzia Benazzi Copyright © 2010 Michael K. Stoskopf et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. A portable analytical chemistry analyzer was used to make ﬁeld assessments of wild harlequin ducks (Histrionicus histrionicus) in association with telemetry studies of winter survival in Prince William Sound, Alaska. We compared serum chemistry results obtained on-site with results from a traditional laboratory. Particular attention was paid to serum glucose and potassium concentrations as potential indicators of high-risk surgical candidates based on evaluation of the ﬁeld data. The median diﬀerential for glucose values (N = 82) between methods was 0.6 mmol/L (quartiles 0.3 and 0.9 mmol/L) with the median value higher when assayed on site. Analysis of potassium on site returned a median of 2.7 mmol/L (N = 88 ; quartiles 2.4 and 3.0 mmol/L). Serum potassium values were too low for quantitation by the traditional laboratory. Changes in several serum chemistry values following a three-day storm during the study support the value of on site evaluation of serum potassium to identify presurgical patients with increased anesthetic risk. 1. Introduction Clinical chemistry parameters are routinely employed to evaluate the health of free-ranging wildlife including water- fowl, and baseline parameters have been published for many anseriformes in various situations [1–4]. Unfortunately, these parameters have been of limited use as cohort inclusion criteria, or for making other decisions in the ﬁeld because of the diﬃculty of obtaining timely test results. Technological advances in serum chemistry analyzers have reduced the size and weight of equipment and simpliﬁed power source requirements, making ﬁeld applications of real-time serum chemistry analysis more practical. We evaluated a portable analytical chemistry analyzer (VetScan, Sunnyvale, CA) capable of operating on 12 or 110 volt power and performing multiple blood tests from a single specimen for ﬁeld assessment of serum chemistries of wild harlequin ducks (Histrionicus histrionicus) in comparison to a traditional laboratory analyzer. We also obtained some baseline serum chemistry values for the species and demonstrated the value of real-time serum chemistry analysis to identify ducks at increased anesthetic risk following a three-day storm. 2. Materials and Methods 2.1. Experimental Animals. Harlequin ducks were captured for surgical implantation of intracoelomic radio transmitters with percutaneous antennae for telemetry studies of over- winter survival in Prince William Sound, Alaska. Capture was achieved using kayaks to herd groups of ducks rendered ﬂightless by their annual wing molt into funnel traps placed near shore. A total of 198 blood samples (including duplicate samples from the same bird) were taken from 176 birds. The cohort for the establishment of baseline serum chemistry proﬁles was limited to 89 female ducks showing no overt clinical signs of disease, judged to be three years old or older