Measurement of Cholesterol and Triglycerides in Dried Serum and the Effect of Storage

Abstract

Dried blood on filter paper has been found to be suitable in large-scale population screening programs (1)(2)(3), but to the best of our knowledge, dried blood or serum on filter paper has not been used for lipid measurements. In the present study, we evaluated the stability of cholesterol and triglycerides in serum dried on filter paper. Fifty-four patients coming to the centralized laboratory, CNC, All India Institute of Medical Sciences for lipid investigations were selected at random, and blood was collected by venipuncture into tubes without anticoagulant. Serum was separated within 2 h of collection. All procedures were in accordance with the ethics standards of our institution. An aliquot of each serum sample was analyzed immediately. Exact 10-μL replicates of the samples were also spotted onto 3M Whatman filter paper kept on a nonabsorbent surface (thermacol) and left at room temperature for 1 h for drying. The room temperature was 16–37 °C for the duration of the study. After drying, one aliquot was eluted and analyzed on the day of collection. The remaining filter discs were kept in a sealed plastic bag to protect them from dust and moisture and stored at room …