I need to collect blood samples for microscopy of P. falciparum. Which tube is best for this? Heparin or plain vacutainer tubes? Will RBC lysis affect detection of the parasite? Thank you.
Plain vacutainer tubes? You mean you want your blood to coagulate? I don't think you want that for microscopy...
You don't need either of them. Plain vacutainer (for seum/plasma processing) will cause blood clotting , and heparin is for plasma processing also.
You will need a spray-coated K2EDTA Tubes that allows for whole blood
hematology determinations. It has anti-clotting agents in them, and will allow for a perfect spread of the RBCs either for thin or thick smear for the analysis of trophozoites, schizonts/ring stages of the parasite. You would want to prepare your smear for microscopy ASAP, or you can store in 4 degree for a couple of hours. Time lapses could potentially affect the RBC integrity (causing lysis), and affect the detection of parasites. The parasites reside in the RBCs at the erythrocytic stage.
Thank you all for your contributions. I appreciate your insight Du-Bois Asante
Heparine cause plateletes aggregation which could be confused with schizonts and may cause problems in smear preperation. The best anticoagulant to use is K2/K3EDTA and blood films shoukd be prepared within 4hrs after blood collection. Do not prepare films after 4 hrs since both parasites and cells would have started to degenerate. Where possible prepare the blood film/smear immediately after blood collection
- Badges
- Science method