Detection of myocardial degeneration with point-of-care cardiac troponin assays and histopathology in lambs with white muscle disease

The aim of this study was to evaluate the use of human cardiac troponin-I (cTn-I) and cardiac troponin-T (cTn-T) kits for the determination of myocardial degeneration in lambs suffering from white muscle disease (WMD). Cardiac troponin (cTn) analyses and necropsy were performed on 12 lambs with acute WMD. Only cTn analyses were tested in six healthy lambs. cTn-I and cTn-T tests were positive for all lambs with WMD, but negative in healthy lambs. Necropsy revealed that the cardiac and skeletal muscles of lambs with WMD had chalky white lesions, which appeared as necrosis and calcification in histopathology. The histopathological findings of the heart muscle and increased cTn in lambs with WMD suggested that marked myocardial degeneration may be detected by point-of-care cTn assays in lambs. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved