ABSTRACT:
The continuous fluctuation in power supply in some developing countries has been suggested to be one of the contributing factors that affect stored experimental blood samples leading to errors in laboratory results. The study was therefore aimed at evaluating the effect of vitamin-E stored blood samples on Malondialdehyde (MDA) and protein concentrations with a view to suggesting a way of reducing errors in laboratory results that are due to oxidation. MDA was determined using the method of Das et al. (1990) while Biuret’s method as described in Amadi et al. (2004) was used to determine the protein concentration. The results obtained show that MDA concentration in the blood sample without vitamin E increased during storage from day 1 (80% TBARS) to day 4 (233% TBARS) while in the sample stored with vitamin E, the concentration of MDA decreased slightly during storage from day2 (80% TBARS) to day (79% TBARS). The protein concentration in the samples without vitamin E decreased during storage from day 1 (2.5±0.08 g/dl) to day 4 (1.7±0.09g/dl) while the concentration of protein in the sample stored with vitamin E, showed no significant increase or decrease from day 2 (2.5±0.03g/dl) to day 4 (2.4±0.01g/dl). From the results of the study, it is therefore strongly suggested that vitamin E should be added to blood samples before storage considering the inconsistent power supply in developing countries. This will reduce the effect of oxidation and thus minimize errors in laboratory results.