Albumin standards and the measurement of serum albumin with bromcresol green. 1971.

A rapid and reliable method for measuring serum albumin employing bromcresol green is described. The addition of albumin to a solution of bromcresol green in a 0.075 M succinate buffer pH 4.20 results in an increase in absorbance at 628 nm. The absorbance-concentration relationship is linear for samples containing up to 6 g/dl albumin. Bilirubin, moderate lipemia, and salicylate do not interfere with the analysis. The use of nonionic surfactant (Brij-35) reduces the absorbance of the blank, prevents turbidity and provides linearity. The results by this method agree very well with those obtained by electrophoresis and salt fractionation. The method is simple, it has excellent precision and the reagents are stable. A protein standard is introduced which can be employed for both the total serum proteins and albumin determinations.

Liquid-chromatographic measurement of amino acids in biological samples after formation of phenylthiohydantoin derivatives.

In this method for measuring amino acids in urine, serum, and tissue, the amino acids to be assayed and the internal standard, L-norleucine, are converted to phenylthiohydantoins , isolated by organic solvent extraction, separated by reversed-phase "high-pressure" liquid chromatography, and detected by ultraviolet absorbance. The analytes are identified by retention times and quantified by comparing peak heights with that of the internal standard. The peak-height ratios vary linearly with concentrations of 50 to 500 mg/L, corresponding to the concentration range usually found in biological samples. Detection limits are 5 to 20 mg/L. Inter- and intra-assay precision (CV) varies between 1 and 26%. Average analytical recoveries range between 67 and 100%.

Manual and continuous-flow colorimetry of triacylglycerols by a fully enzymic method.

We describe a fully enzymic method for manual and continuous-flow colorimetric assay of triacylglycerols (triglycerides) in serum. Triglycerides are enzymically hydrolyzed in 10 min by lipase and microbial esterase. The resulting free glycerol is measured enzymically by glycerol kinase and glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase. The NADH so formed is oxidized by coupling with a tetrazolium salt/diaphorase system. The test follows Beer's law to 8 g/L, and the final color is stable for at least 1 h for serum, 15 min for aqueous triolein standards. The manual assay requires only 25 microliter of serum and few manipulations. A specific triolein standard was developed for calibrating the manual method. For the continuous-flow method, calibration is made with four concentrations of glycerol standard. The procedure is sensitive, has good precision and accuracy, and gives results that compare well with chemical and enzymic commercial kit methods.