Storage stability of some bovine plasma enzymes.

Blood samples taken from domestic or wild ruminant animals typically require transportation to an analytical laboratory. Depending on circumstances, several hours or even a few days may pass between sampling and analysis. Several diagnostic plasma enzymes were measured in bovine blood samples immediately after sampling and after storage under a variety of conditions. Conditions studied included storing whole heparinized blood at 20 C for 6 hours, storage at 4 C for 3 and 5 days, and freezing freshly prepared plasma once and 4 times before analysis. For studies of erythrocyte enzymes, fresh erythrocytes were compared with erythrocytes frozen once, frozen 4 times, and prepared from whole blood stored for one week at 4 C. None of these conditions deteriorated erythrocyte acetylcholinesterase. The serum pseudoacetylcholinesterase and lactate dehydrogenase were not affected by any storage condition used. By contrast, acid phosphatase was significantly decreased by all storage conditions used. Ornithine carbamoyltransferase, alkaline phosphatase, aspartate aminotransferase, and alanine aminotransferase were stable under some of the storage conditions tested.