Evaluation of Iophenoxic Acid as a Biomarker for Swamp Wallabies (Wallabia bicolor)

Abstract

The potential of iophenoxic acid (IPA) as a systemic biomarker for use in feeding and diet studies of swamp wallabies (Wallabia bicolor) was investigated. Groups of captive wallabies were administered IPA doses of 0, 15 and 30 mg kg–1. Baseline concentrations of plasma iodine were compared with samples taken at 24 h, 48 h, 4 days, 6 days and 20 days after dosage. Plasma iodine in wallabies dosed with IPA was elevated by 70.43–331 times pre-dosage concentrations at 24 h and was not significantly different from pre-dosage concentrations in all wallabies by four days. The demonstrated short persistence of marking in swamp wallabies differs markedly from most studies of eutherian species and indicates that IPA is unsuitable for use as a biomarker for field-based studies of swamp wallabies.