EVALUATION OF THE CLINITEK-200 URINARY TEST-STRIP READER IN THE ANALYSIS OF DOG AND RAT URINES IN PRECLINICAL TOXICOLOGY STUDIES

The performance of a clinical urinary test-strip reader Clinitek 200 w as evaluated for dog and rat urines, in the context of pre-clinical to xicology studies. No major discrepancies were found between data gener ated by visual estimation or automatic measurement. Analysis of spiked samples showed good agreement between actual concentrations and Clini tek 200 responses for ketone bodies and glucose although a lack of sen sitivity was found for the latter. Results for proteins showed over- o r underestimation in dog and rat urines respectively at low concentrat ions, and overestimation at high concentrations in both species. Repro ducibility of responses was excellent for ketone bodies, glucose and p roteins but was weaker for haemoglobin and bilirubin. High bilirubin c oncentrations were found to interfere with the haemoglobin reaction. T he pH measurements were found to be accurate only around pH 7. Specifi c gravity measurements were unreliable. Overall, the Clinitek 200 as a screening tool proved sufficiently reliable in the measurement of all parameters tested, with the exception of specific gravity.