Validation of dried blood spot sampling for determining trophic positions of Arctic char using nitrogen stable isotope analyses of amino acids.
Rapid Commun Mass Spectrom
; 35(2): e8992, 2021 Jan 30.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-33125783
ABSTRACT
RATIONALE Dried blood spots (DBSs) are gaining popularity for biomarker analyses in ecological research due to their advantages for use in field-based research and in remote settings; however, many DBS biomarkers remain unvalidated. We validated the application of compound-specific stable nitrogen isotope analyses of amino acids (CSIA-AAs) to field-prepared DBSs for determining trophic positions of wild-caught Arctic char (Salvelinus alpinus). METHODS:
Whole blood and muscle from Arctic char were collected, and DBSs were created in the field. We measured the stable nitrogen isotope ratios (expressed as δ15 N values) of the amino acids glutamic acid (Glu) and phenylalanine (Phe) isolated from Arctic char samples using CSIA-AAs. We then compared amino acid δ15 N values from DBSs and the other sample types (whole blood and muscle) from the same specimens. We calculated and compared trophic position estimates generated from whole blood, DBSs, and muscle.RESULTS:
The δ15 N values of Glu and Phe, as well as trophic position estimates from DBSs, were highly correlated with δ15 N values and estimates from both whole blood and muscle. The DBS amino acid δ15 N values and trophic position estimates agreed well with those from whole blood. Although mean differences between amino acid δ15 N values from DBSs and muscle were noted, the offsets were small and resulted in a 0.2 mean difference between trophic position estimates for DBSs and muscle.CONCLUSIONS:
We demonstrate that the application of CSIA-AAs to field-prepared DBSs of Arctic char generates similar trophic position estimates to those from whole blood and muscle. We suggest that DBSs could be developed as a minimally invasive sampling technique to study feeding ecology of wild fish and perhaps other organisms of interest.
Texto completo:
1
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Truta
/
Teste em Amostras de Sangue Seco
/
Aminoácidos
/
Isótopos de Nitrogênio
Limite:
Animals
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2021
Tipo de documento:
Article