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The impacts of different anticoagulants and long-term frozen storage on multiple metal concentrations in peripheral blood: a comparative study

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Abstract

It is important but remains unclear whether ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) and sodium heparin anticoagulants have different impacts on the levels of various metals in peripheral blood after long-term frozen storage. The concentrations of 22 metals (Al, As, Ba, Ca, Cd, Cr, Co, Cu, Mn, Mg, Mo, Ni, Fe, Pb, Rb, Se, Sn, Sb, Sr, Ti, V, Zn) in whole blood, blood cells and plasma from 22 healthy participants were determined twice, 18 months apart, using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The mean percentage error (MPE) and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) were calculated to evaluate the impact of the anticoagulants and long-term frozen storage on metal concentrations, respectively. The concentrations of Sb and Ba in whole blood, blood cells and plasma were significantly altered by EDTA and sodium heparin at two measurement timepoints (P < 0.05 and MPE > 80%). In EDTA tubes, the Ti and Ni concentrations in blood cells were changed significantly; and in heparin tubes, the concentrations of Ni and Mo in blood cells and Sb in plasma were also altered (P < 0.05 and MPE > 80%). The ICCs of 11 metals in whole blood, 15 metals in blood cells and 16 metals in plasma remained unchanged in EDTA tubes, and 16 metals in whole blood, 15 metals in blood cells and 17 metals in plasma remained unchanged in heparin tubes (ICC > 0.40). Our study suggested the use of EDTA tubes to determine Sb concentrations in peripheral blood and heparin tubes to determine Ba concentrations. Additionally, heparin tubes may be more suited for determining multiple metal concentrations in whole blood, whereas for blood cells and plasma either EDTA or heparin tubes could be used.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [Grant Number 81860573 and 82073504] and the Guangxi Natural Science Fund for Innovation Research Team [Grant Number 2017GXNSFGA198003 and 2019GXNSFGA245002]. We are extremely grateful to all the participants who volunteered to take part in this study and all members of the research team.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Occupational Health and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, Guangxi, China

    Yu Bao, Xiaoting Ge, Longman Li, Junxiu He, Sifang Huang, Xiaoyu Luo & Xiaobo Yang

  2. Guangxi Key Laboratory for Genomic and Personalized Medicine, Nanning, Guangxi, China

    Yu Bao, Xiaoting Ge, Longman Li, Junxiu He, Sifang Huang, Xiaoyu Luo & Xiaobo Yang

  3. Guangxi Collaborative Innovation Center for Genomic and Personalized Medicine, Nanning, Guangxi, China

    Yu Bao, Xiaoting Ge, Longman Li, Junxiu He, Sifang Huang, Xiaoyu Luo & Xiaobo Yang

  4. Department of Public Health, School of Medicine, Guangxi University of Science and Technology, Liuzhou, Guangxi, China

    Xiaobo Yang

  5. Department of Sanitary Chemistry, School of Public Health, Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, Guangxi, China

    Xing Chen

  6. Department of Molecular Pharmacology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA

    Pan Chen

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  1. Yu Bao
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10534_2021_336_MOESM1_ESM.eps

Supplementary file1 Differences in metal concentrations in whole blood, blood cells and plasma at two measurement timepoints in K2EDTA and heparin: 1st = first time of metal measurement in May 2019; 2nd = second time of metal measurement in October 2020; MPE = mean percentage error. Statistical significance was considered at P < 0.05 and MPE > 80% (EPS 2856 kb)

10534_2021_336_MOESM2_ESM.eps

Supplementary file2 Variations in metal concentrations in whole blood at two measurement timepoints: 1st = first time of metal measurements in May 2019; 2nd = second time of metal measurements in October 2020; MPE = mean percentage error; EDTA and heparin are presented as K2EDTA and sodium heparin, respectively. Each graph represents an individual metal. The violins and boxes in each graph represent the metal concentrations in each measurement. Statistical significance was considered at P < 0.05 and MPE > 80% (EPS 9540 kb)

10534_2021_336_MOESM3_ESM.eps

Supplementary file3 Variations in metal concentrations in blood cells at two measurement timepoints: 1st = first time of metal measurements in May 2019; 2nd = second time of metal measurements in October 2020; MPE = mean percentage error; EDTA and heparin are presented as K2EDTA and sodium heparin, respectively. Each graph represents an individual metal. The violins and boxes in each graph represent the metal concentrations in each measurement. Statistical significance was considered at P < 0.05 and MPE > 80% (EPS 9160 kb)

10534_2021_336_MOESM4_ESM.eps

Supplementary file4 Variations in metal concentrations in plasma at two measurement timepoints: 1st = first time of metal measurements in May 2019; 2nd = second time of metal measurements in October 2020; MPE = mean percentage error; EDTA and heparin are presented as K2EDTA and sodium heparin, respectively. Each graph represents an individual metal. The violins and boxes in each graph represent the metal concentrations in each measurement. Statistical significance was considered at P < 0.05 and MPE > 80% (EPS 9656 kb)

Supplementary file5 (XLSX 28 kb)

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Bao, Y., Ge, X., Li, L. et al. The impacts of different anticoagulants and long-term frozen storage on multiple metal concentrations in peripheral blood: a comparative study. Biometals 34, 1191–1205 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10534-021-00336-7

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