Specimen Requirements

Container/Tube:

Preferred: Gold-top serum gel tube or plain, red-top tube

Acceptable: Green-top (lithium heparin) tube or Lavender-top (EDTA) tube

Specimen Volume:170 uL of serum or plasma

Stability: Store samples at 2 to 8°C if not tested within 8 hours of collection.  Store samples stoppered and upright at all times at 2 to 8°C up to 2 days. Freeze samples, devoid of red blood cells, at or below -20°C for up to 180 days.  Thoroughly mix thawed samples and centrifuge at 10,000 g for 2 minutes before using.  Collect the supernatant into a clean vial.

Collection Instructions:

Note:1.  Heterophilic antibodies in human serum can react with reagent immunoglobulins, interfering with in vitro immunoassays. Patients routinely exposed to animals or to animal serum products can be prone to this interference and anomalous values may be observed. Additional information may be required for diagnosis.

2. In patients receiving therapy with high doses of biotin (i.e. >5 mg/day), no sample should be taken until at least 8 hours after the last biotin administration.