The validation and application of the technicon H*1 for the complete automated evaluation of laboratory animal haematology

The Technicon H*1 has been used in human medicine for many years. Recently, Technicon have modified the instrument's software to allow the evaluation of rodent and dog blood samples. This article presents the results of the validation studies we performed with the Technicon H*1 for use with animal blood and describes aspects of precision, accuracy, sample storage and the ability to detect abnormal haematology profiles. Our conclusions indicate that the Technicon H*1 is a reliable instrument capable of producing a complete blood count together with an accurate white cell differential count for both rodent and dog samples. The parameters it now makes available have improved our diagnostic efficiency, both in terms of turnaround time for results and the early identification of an adverse drug reaction in our animal toxicology studies.