Abstract
Assessment of the risk of kernicterus would be aided greatly by the availability of a rapid, accurate, micromethod for the frequent measurement of bilirubin, non-albumin bound bilirubin, albumin binding capacity and reserve binding capacity. We have evaluated such a method using the Bell Labs hematofluorometer which requires only three drops of whole blood (150μl) to measure these parameters in 77 infants, birth weight 737 to 3950 gms.
Values for albumin-bound bilirubin by this method compared favorably with total serum bilirubin values obtained by the Jendrassik-Grof method (r=0.78). Albumin binding capacity ranged from 14 mg/dl in the smallest infant (737 gm) to 25.6 mg/dl in an infant over 3 kg. Reserve binding capacity ranged from 5 to 35 mg/dl and correlated directly with HABA binding capacity (r=0.76). When bilirubin was released from red cells by addition of a drop of blood (50μl) to detergent, an increment of 1.2 to 3.7 mg/dl was found in the bilirubin values and probably represents red cell bound bilirubin. The method promises a new approach to simple rapid evaluation of the distribution of bilirubin between albumin and other binding sites in whole blood.
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Brown, A., Boyle, G., Lamola, A. et al. 939A CLINICAL EVALUATION OF A SIMPLE, RAPID, MICROMETHOD TO DETERMINE BILIRUBIN, BILIRUBIN BINDING CAPACITY, AND RESERVE BINDING CAPACITY. Pediatr Res 12 (Suppl 4), 520 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197804001-00945
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197804001-00945
