Theoretical and Experimental Evidence in Mixed Serum Samples as Natural Reference Materials for Measuring Activity of Biomacromolecules in Serum.
BACKGROUND
The target substances of biomacromolecules are primarily unstable in biological, chemical, and immunological activity, whereby, the standardized substances are obtained with considerable difficulty. We explored the possibility of using a mixed serum sample as a natural reference material for measurement of biomacromolecules in serum.


METHODS
Eight serum samples were selected randomly from a clinical laboratory. Then, 2, 4, and 8 serum samples were mixed (in equal quantity) resulting in 4, 2, and 1 sample groups, respectively, to compare mean measurement results of biochemical indices between single samples and mixed samples. Moreover, 40 serum samples were selected randomly from a clinical laboratory. From those samples, three groups were set up comprising 20, 10, and 5 sample groups by mixing equal quantities of 2, 4, and 8 serum samples, respectively. These samples were used to compare standard deviation (SD). The sixteen indices tested comprised proteins, enzymes, and organic molecules and were measured by an automatic biochemical analyzer.


RESULTS
The mean values from mixed samples were much closer to the mean values from the single serum samples. The SD values of the 2, 4, or 8 mixed serum samples were close to the expected value.


CONCLUSIONS
These data suggest that the design of the reference material (i.e., a mixed serum sample) was suitable for the measurement of biological samples.
Yang
Y
Guang
Dong
D
Feng
Li
L
Yuzhong
Liu
L
Hui
D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood*; D001774:Blood Chemical Analysis / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012015:Reference Standards; D015203:Reproducibility of Results
D015415:Biomarkers