Dear all.
We do a lot of cytokine and antibody measurements in our lab using ELISA and Luminex etc. There are often notable differences between serum, EDTA- and heparin plasma, as is well-known and often described by kit-manufacturers, but within each type of plasma (i.e. EDTA, heparin) nobody seems to care much whether Na, K2, K3, or Li was used, so I have been wondering when to choose what type of tube.
Can anyone help shed some light over when Na, K2, K3, or Li (heparin or EDTA) is to prefer over the others?
Thanks a lot in advance!
BR
Christian
This question seems related to platelet activation and in vitro release of cytokine factors during clotting process. My impression is CTAD as the best bet for consistent results. Sodium Citrate is a possible choice. EDTA and heparin may have individual variability in platelet activation. The effect of different salt is limited. For antibody detection, serum is usually a prefer matrix than plasma. However, based on the assay design, cytokine or soluble ligand in serum may interfere the antibody detection as false positive or false negative.
In a strict sense, any sample, which differs from the matrix used in the ELISA validation is an unproven extension of the application range. It is your own risk to use different sample types. In addition, this issue can be clarified only on an individual basis, each ELISA or another assay may behave differently. There is no general answer to this question.
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