RESEARCH ARTICLE
Effect of Sample Processing Delays on the Values of Serum Based Biomarkers of Brain Injury Collected from the Umbilical Cord Blood of Neonates
Michael D. Weiss1, *, Nikolay A. Bliznyuk2, Candace C. Rossignol1, Livia Sura1, Melissa Huene1, Nicole Copenhaver1, Olena Glushakova3, Ronald L. Hayes4
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2019Volume: 9
First Page: 10
Last Page: 16
Publisher ID: TOBIOMJ-9-10
DOI: 10.2174/1875318301909010021
Article History:
Received Date: 29/11/2018Revision Received Date: 10/01/2019
Acceptance Date: 20/01/2019
Electronic publication date: 15/02/2019
Collection year: 2019
open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode). This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Background:
When a neonate is born with suspected brain injury, blood samples are often obtained from the umbilical cord blood but are not always processed immediately.
Objective:
Test the accuracy of brain injury biomarker assays on samples that experienced delayed processing.
Methods:
Healthy neonates who did not have risk factors for brain injury provided cord blood samples. Group 1 blood samples were centrifuged immediately, and the serum was removed and frozen at baseline, 4, and 8 hours. Group 2 had a baseline sample processed immediately and then blood samples remained in contact with the clotted portion until 4, and 8 hours and then were centrifuged. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays determined the concentrations of Ubiquitin C-Terminal Hydrolase L1 (UCH-L1) and Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein (GFAP).
Results:
Group 1’s average concentrations of GFAP were 62±47 pg/ml at 0 hours (n=32) with a mean increase of 3±14% and a decrease of 0.2±9% at 4 and 8 hours, respectively. UCH-L1 average concentrations were 3306±3093 pg/ml at 0 hours (n=37) with a mean increase of 3±10% at 4 hours and a mean decrease of 0.6±11% at 8 hours. Group 2’s average GFAP concentrations were 104±111 pg/ml at 0 hours (n=9) with a mean decrease of 5±9% and 7±7% at 4 and 8 hours, respectively. UCH-L1 average concentrations were 3448±2456 pg/ml at 0 hour (n=8) with a mean increase of 9±6% and 6±18% at 4 and 8 hours, respectively.
Conclusion:
Delays in processing up to 8 hours did not significantly affect the concentration of UCH-L1 or GFAP.