Clinical Chemistry
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

Clinical Chemistry 53: 117-123, 2007. First published November 27, 2006; 10.1373/clinchem.2007.073726
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
clinchem.2007.073726v1
53/1/117    most recent
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Web of Science (3)
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Vrouwe, E. X.
Right arrow Articles by van den Berg, A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Vrouwe, E. X.
Right arrow Articles by van den Berg, A.
Related Collections
Right arrow Point-of-Care Testing
(Clinical Chemistry. 2007;53:117-123.)
© 2007 American Association for Clinical Chemistry, Inc.

Point-of-Care Testing

Microchip Capillary Electrophoresis for Point-of-Care Analysis of Lithium

Elwin X. Vrouwe1,1, Regina Luttge1, Istvan Vermes2 and Albert van den Berg1,a

1 MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands.
2 Department of Clinical Chemistry, Medisch Spectrum Twente, Hospital Group, Enschede, The Netherlands.

aAddress correspondence to this author at: University of Twente, P.O. Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands. Fax +31-53-4893595; e-mail a.vandenberg{at}ewi.utwente.nl.

Background: Microchip capillary electrophoresis (CE) is a promising method for chemical analysis of complex samples such as whole blood. We evaluated the method for point-of-care testing of lithium.

Methods: Chemical separation was performed on standard glass microchip CE devices with a conductivity detector as described in previous work. Here we demonstrate a new sample-to-chip interface. Initially, we took a glass capillary as a sample collector for whole blood from a finger stick. In addition, we designed a novel disposable sample collector and tested it against the clinical standard at the hospital (Medisch Spectrum Twente). Both types of collectors require <10 µL of test fluid. The collectors contain an integrated filter membrane, which prevents the transfer of blood cells into the microchip. The combination of such a sample collector with microchip CE allows point-of-care measurements without the need for off-chip sample treatment. This new on-chip protocol was verified against routine lithium testing of 5 patients in the hospital.

Results: Sodium, lithium, magnesium, and calcium were separated in <20 s. The detection limit for lithium was 0.15 mmol/L.

Conclusions: The new microchip CE system provides a convenient and rapid method for point-of-care testing of electrolytes in serum and whole blood.






HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 2007 by the American Association for Clinical Chemistry.