Effects of heparin and EDTA on some plasma enzymes of human: comparison with serum
Serum is a multipurpose blood sample for biochemical studies, but the effects of various types of anticoagulants on plasma biochemistry are not clear a priori. A hundred people were blood sampled in different tubes containing EDTA and heparin as anticoagulants and plain tube for harvesting plasma and serum. The activity of alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, a-amylase and its pancreatic isoenzyme, ү-glutamyl transferase, creatine kinase, lactate dehydrogenase and a-hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenases, alkaline phosphatase and cholinesterase were measured. Significant difference was seen for alkaline phosphatase and transferases activity when EDTA was used as an anticoagulant and for ү-glutamyl transferase when heparin was used as an anticoagulant. The activities of lactate dehydrogenase and a-hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenases, were significantly higher in both plasmas than that of serum. In other cases, the enzymes activity in heparinised plasma, EDTA-plasma and serum had a high correlation and the differences in the values were not clinically significant.