The stability of creatine kinase isoenzymes studied with two-site monoclonal antibody assays

Stability of selected serum proteins after long-term storage in the Janus Serum Bank

BACKGROUND

Human serum from biobanks is frequently used in prospective epidemiological studies. Long-term storage may modify its composition. A better understanding of the stability of the serum components may improve the interpretation of future studies.

METHODS

The concentrations of selected proteins; immunoglobulins, carrier proteins and enzymes in samples stored at -25 degrees C for 25 years and 2 years were compared with 1-month-old samples. For each length of storage time, 130 specimens were randomly selected from apparently healthy male blood donors aged 40-49 years. We examined the distribution of values, compared dispersion and localization of central tendency, and established reference intervals for each component.

RESULTS

The study demonstrated non-significant or numerically small group differences in the concentrations of albumin, aspartate amino transferase, cystatin C, immunoglobulin E, immunoglobulin G, and sex hormone binding globulin. Mean values between fresh and 25-year-old samples suggested larger differences during storage for alanine amino transferase (-73.4%), creatinine kinase (-96.1%), insulin C-peptide (-98.7%), ferritin (-18.5%) and transferrin (+8.2%).

CONCLUSIONS

The findings showed that long-term storage can introduce a considerable bias for vulnerable components.

Detection of cerebral injury after total circulatory arrest and profound hypothermia by estimation of specific creatine kinase isoenzyme levels using monoclonal antibody techniques

New 2-site labeled monoclonal antibody techniques were used to measure serially plasma levels of brain-type creatine kinase (CK-BB), heart-type creatine kinase (CK-MB) and muscle-type creatine kinase (CK-MM) during a 20-hour postoperative period in 24 infants after deep hypothermia and total circulatory arrest used in pediatric cardiac surgery. A control group of 7 children undergoing cardiovascular procedures without extracorporeal circulation or circulatory arrest also were studied. There were marked increases in CK-MB and CK-BB levels in the circulatory arrest group but not in the closed group. CK-BB increased from 3.2 +/- 0.5 to 27 +/- 10 ng/ml and CK-MB from 5.9 +/- 2.1 to 137 +/- 12 ng/ml. The CK-MM concentrations increased from 299 +/- 91 and 194 +/- 49 ng/ml to 1,220 +/- 274 and 1,322 +/- 142 ng/ml in the closed and circulatory arrest groups, respectively. Peak levels of CK-MB and CK-BB occurred an average of 133 and 127 minutes, respectively, after reperfusion. The half-time of CK-BB differed significantly from that of CK-MB (149 +/- 15 vs 359 +/- 20 minutes). The arrest time had a more marked effect on CK-BB concentration than on CK-MB and CK-MM concentrations. Arteriointernal jugular venous concentration differences were consistently negative for CK-BB in the circulatory arrest group, but not for CK-MM and CK-MB.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)