Precautions for using anticoagulant EDTA dipotassium

Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid dipotassium, abbreviated as EDTA dipotassium, is a very important anticoagulant in vacuum blood collection tubes. Compared with anticoagulants such as heparin, sodium citrate, and potassium oxalate, it is used more frequently, so understanding some of its usage details is very helpful.

Application of EDTA dipotassium in blood collection vessel types

The anticoagulants added to different types of anticoagulant tubes are naturally different. EDTA dipotassium is usually added to vacuum blood collection tubes for detecting blood routine, usually in the form of purple safety head tubes. In addition, in nucleic acid detection tubes, EDTA dipotassium is generally used as a blood anticoagulant. One reason is that EDTA can chelate calcium ions in the blood, inhibiting the coagulation process; Secondly, EDTA can also chelate magnesium ions, which has an inhibitory effect on nucleases that require the presence of magnesium ions to function, preventing nucleic acids from being degraded by nucleases.

EDTA dipotassium dosage

The dosage of EDTA dipotassium in the blood collection tube is determined based on the amount of blood collected. According to the requirements of Appendix NC of YY0314-2007 standard, the content of EDTA dipotassium or tripotassium in each ml of blood is 1.5-2.2mg, and the median value of 1.8mg/ml is taken when preparing the reagent. It should be noted that the dosage of heparin anticoagulant is 20IU per milliliter of blood, one measured by weight and the other by potency unit, and the two cannot be confused.

Preparation of EDTA dipotassium solution

EDTA dipotassium is a water-soluble salt that can be directly dissolved in water when prepared. However, when mixing EDTA dipotassium or tripotassium anticoagulants with blood samples, there may be a slight dilution effect. In order to control the impact of dilution, the concentration of EDTA solution should not be too low. Usually, 20 microliters of dipotassium solution is added to a blood collection volume of 2mL or 3mL. When it is necessary to increase the amount of dipotassium, the method of increasing the concentration of dipotassium is preferred over increasing the spraying amount. However, the concentration of dipotassium should not be too high. Excessive concentration may lead to a decrease in solubility when the temperature decreases, resulting in the precipitation of EDTA dipotassium crystals. Moreover, high potassium ion concentration poses a risk of hemolysis of blood cells.

The anticoagulant principle of EDTA dipotassium and EDTA tripotassium is the same. After being prepared into a solution, the only difference is the concentration of EDTA acid ions and potassium ions, with slight differences in pH and certain differences in specific detection items. Desheng focuses on the research and production of in vitro diagnostic reagent raw materials, and can provide high-quality EDTA dipotassium, tripotassium or other anticoagulants.