Effect of blood sample handling post-collection on Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae antibody titres

• Published in: The veterinary journal (1997) Vol. 180; no. 3; pp. 325 - 329
• Main Authors: Neumann, Eric J., Bonistalli, Kathryn N.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01-06-2009
• Subjects: absorbance; Agreement; Animals; antibodies; Antibodies, Bacterial - blood; antibody detection; Blood; blood plasma; blood sampling; blood serum; Edetic Acid; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; Erysipelothrix - immunology; Erysipelothrix Infections - blood; Erysipelothrix Infections - diagnosis; Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae; heat treatment; Hemolysis; immunoglobulin G; Reproducibility of Results; Sensitivity and Specificity; Serologic Tests - standards; Serologic Tests - veterinary; Serum; Specimen Handling - standards; Specimen Handling - veterinary; Storage; storage conditions; storage technology; Swine; Temperature; Time Factors; Agreement; Serum; Storage; Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay; Blood
• ISSN: 1090-0233; 1532-2971
• DOI: 10.1016/j.tvjl.2008.07.020

A study was conducted to determine the effect of blood sample mishandling on the performance of an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for the detection of antibodies against
Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae. Eleven sample maltreatments (storage at −10
°C, storage at 4
°C, heat treatment of clotted blood, haemolysis, repetitive freeze–thaw cycling, and substitution of plasma in place of serum) were simulated in a laboratory environment and then run concurrently against a gold standard sample (storage at −80
°C).
The mishandling treatment groups that simulated high levels of haemolysis had significantly lower optical density (OD) readings when compared to the gold standard. However, the magnitude of the effects was relatively small and only samples with OD values close to the cut-off changed state from positive to negative. Heat treatment had a minor, but non-significant, effect on OD values. Findings from this study suggested that immunoglobulin G antibody was stable in the face of most common sample mishandling events.