skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Automated processing of whole blood samples into microliter aliquots of plasma

Journal Article · · Journal of Automatic Chemistry
 [1];  [2];  [3]
  1. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States).Chemical Technology
  2. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States).Instrumentation and Controls
  3. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States).Plant and Equipment Divisions

A rotor that accepts and automatically processes a bulk aliquot of a single blood sample into multiple aliquots of plasma has been designed and built. The rotor consists of a central processing unit, which includes a disk containing eight precision-bore capillaries. By varying the internal diameters of the capillaries, aliquot volumes ranging 1 to 10 µl can be prepared. In practice, an unmeasured volume of blood is placed in a centre well, and, as the rotor begins to spin, is moved radially into a central annular ring where it is distributed into a series of processing chambers. The rotor is then spun at 3000 rpm for 10 min. When the centrifugal field is removed by slowly decreasing the rotor speed, an aliquot of plasma is withdrawn by capillary action into each of the capillary tubes. The disk containing the eight measured aliquots of plasma is subsequently removed and placed in a modifed rotor for conventional centrifugal analysis. Initial evaluation of the new rotor indicates that it is capable of producing discrete, microliter volumes of plasma with a degree of accuracy and precision approaching that of mechanical pipettes.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Chemical Sciences, Geosciences & Biosciences Division
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725
OSTI ID:
1626239
Journal Information:
Journal of Automatic Chemistry, Vol. 10, Issue 1; ISSN 0142-0453
Publisher:
HindawiCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English