The Impact of Heparin-Anticoagulated Plasma on Biochemical Test Results

  Currently, the continuous development of medical technology has witnessed the increasing of testing methods, which is conducive to the diagnosis and differentiation of diseases. In the past, biochemical tests were performed by means of serum separation. Meanwhile, the use of heparin-anticoagulated plasma in biochemical testing is a relatively common clinical examination method. Heparin-anticoagulated plasma can be obtained more quickly. Heparin is a mucopolysaccharide with a large molecular weight, containing sulfate groups and multiple negative charges. It has a good anticoagulant effect, and can inhibit the activity of thrombin and thromboplastin in plasma to achieve the purpose of anticoagulation. When performing biochemical tests on emergency patients, the use of heparin-anticoagulated plasma for testing can prevent the massive aggregation of platelets in the plasma. Even at low heparin concentrations, it can also inhibit the activity of serine proteases in the plasma, block the function of plasma factor X, prevent the catalysis of thrombin, and disable the interaction of most factors in the blood, thereby maintaining the stability of various components.

  Test the biochemical indicators of the centrifuged serum and plasma, including ALT (Alanine Aminotransferase), AST (Aspartate Aminotransferase), CK (Creatine Kinase), GLU (Blood Glucose), CHOL (Total Cholesterol), TG (Triglycerides), CRE (Creatinine), UA (Uric Acid), TBIL (Total Bilirubin), and BUN (Blood Urea Nitrogen). Determine K⁺ (Potassium), Na⁺ (Sodium), and CL⁻ (Chloride) using an electrolyte analyzer.

  In the research results, there was no significant difference in ion indicators such as K⁺, Cl⁻, and Ca²⁺ between the anticoagulated plasma samples and the separated serum samples (P > 0.05). However, the concentration of sodium ions shows a significant change in the test: the concentration of sodium ions in anticoagulated plasma is lower than that in separated serum. This is mainly because heparin-anticoagulated plasma can inhibit blood coagulation and maintain its stability. Furthermore, in the comparison of biochemical indicators, there was no significant difference in Cr (Creatinine), ALT (Alanine Aminotransferase), and AST (Aspartate Aminotransferase) between anticoagulated plasma and separated serum (P > 0.05). However, in terms of GLU (Blood Glucose), the level in anticoagulated plasma was higher than that in separated serum. This is because heparin itself has an anticoagulant effect, which can preserve the original activity of the test sample and prevent plasma coagulation. It can be seen from this that heparin-anticoagulated plasma meets the requirements in biochemical tests and can provide assistance for the treatment of patients.

  In summary, when conducting biochemical tests on patients, the use of heparin-anticoagulated plasma enables rapid plasma separation, and the test results are relatively accurate.

References

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Zhou Chunli. Effect Analysis of Heparin-Anticoagulated Plasma in Emergency Biochemical Tests[J]. Chinese Journal of Integrative Medicine, 2023, 8.

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Chen Min. Analysis on the Feasibility of Applying Heparin-Anticoagulated Plasma in Emergency Biochemical Tests[J]. World Latest Medicine Information Abstracts, 2019, 19(75): 175+179.

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