| We evaluated the direct fluorometric assay for determining retinol in bovine
serum. The concentration of retinol in bovine serum determined by direct
fluorometric assay was highly correlated with those by high performance
liquid chromatography (HPLC) method (r = 0.955, n = 184), or the retinol
binding protein by single radial immunodiffusion assay (r = 0.851, n =
88). Inter-assay coefficient of variation from ten measures of retinol
in bovine serum was 4.9%, suggesting that reproductivity of direct fluorometric
assay was acceptable for clinical use. There was no significant difference
between the HPLC methods and direct fluorometric assay in the presence
of hemoglobin up to 0.8 mg/ml, or β-carotene 400μg/ml. The direct fluorometric
assay is a simple and inexpensive method, and is considered to be useful
for routine retinol assay, in particular, where mass surveillance is required.
(Metabolic Disease Section, Department of Production Diseases TEL +81-29-838-7795) |