A Colorimetric Method for Determination of Total Serum Lipids Based on the Sulfo-phospho-vanillin Reaction CHRISTOPHER S. FRINGS, PH.D., AND RALPH T. DUNN, M T (ASCP) Medical Laboratory Associates, 1025 South 18th Street, Birmingham, Alabama 35205 Abstract. Frings, Christopher S., and Dunn, Ralph T.: A colorimetric method for determination of total serum lipids based on the sulfo-phospho-vanillin reaction. Am. J. Clin. Path. 53: 89-91, 1970. A simple, rapid, and precise colorimetric method for total serum lipids based on the sulfo-phospho-vanillin reaction is described. The method uses 0.10 ml. of serum and the resulting chromogen follows Beer's law at 540 m^. up to lipid concentrations of 1,000 mg. per 100 ml. The colorimetric method gives good agreement with a gravimetric-extraction method and has a coefficient of variation of 3.5%. The simplicity, speed, and reliability of the proposed method makes it suitable for large-scale analyses. WIDELY-ACCEPTED METHODS for measurement of total serum lipids by extraction and subsequent gravimetric analysis 4 ' 7 are tedious and time-consuming. A simple, rapid, reliable method for the assay of serum lipids which has the analytical integrity of the gravimetric method is needed. Several basic approaches to this problem have been made. One approach is to perform cholesterol, phospholipid, and triglyceride assays, and then calculate the total lipid concentration from the values of the lipid fractions.2 This approach has the disadvantage of being very time-consuming because three independent chemical determinations are required, and in addition it is necessary to accept the often-incorrect assumption that 73% of total cholesterol represents cholesterol esters. The phenol turbidity method of Kundel and associates 5 for assay of total lipids is rapid, but was shown by Cheek and Wease 2 to compare unfavorably with the gravimetric method. A method based upon the oxidation of an alcohol-ether extract of serum by a K 2 Cr 2 0 7 -H 2 S0 4 reagent and subsequent determination of the reduced chromium ion has been described by Bragdon. 1 This method is time-consuming because the solvent must be evaporated to dryness at 60 C. In addition, determinations of cholesterol and phosphatides are necessary so that the corresponding oxidation factors may be applied. Drevon and Schmit 8 reported on the color reaction given by lipids with vanillin in a medium of sulfuric acid and phosphoric acid. Postma and Stroes ° mentioned a sulfo-phospho-vanillin method for serum lipids, but the details were not described. In this paper we describe an improved colorimetric method, based on the sulfo- THE Received June 23, 1969; accepted for publication August. 10. I'OO'.l. Presented in part at the 21st National Meeting of the American Association of Clinical Chemists, August, 1969, in Denver, Colorado. 89 90 Vol. 53 FRINGS AND DUNN cold water bath for about 5 min. Transfer TABLE 1. Comparison of Colorimetric and Gravimetric Total Lipid Methods a 0.10-ml. aliquot of the mixture into a Total Lipids Colorimetric Gravimetric Sample Method Method (mg. per 100 ml.) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 MEAN 552 360 665 640 569 569 570 415 665 650 565 665 1378 1300 595 526 1442 1395 641 659 561 720 680 573 669 714 583 721 764 612 707 721 phospho-vanillin reaction, for the determination of total serum lipids. Materials and Methods Reagents 1. Concentrated sulfuric acid. 2. Vanillin, 0.6% (w/v). 3. Phospho-vanillin reagent. Place 200 ml. of 0.6% vanillin solution in a 2-liter Erlenmeyer flask. Add 800 ml. of concentrated phosphoric acid, with constant stirring. Store in a brown bottle at room temperature. This solution is stable for at least 6 weeks. 4. Standards. Working standards of 200, 400, 600, and 800 mg. per 100 ml. are prepared by diluting a stock standard (1.000 Gm. olive oil per 100 ml. absolute ethanol) with the appropriate amount of absolute alcohol. These standards are stable for at least a month at 4 C. Procedure Pipet 2.0 ml. of concentrated H 2 S0 4 into a tube containing 0.10 ml. of serum, and mix well. Heat the tube for 10 rain, in a boiling water bath. Cool the tube in a tube labeled unknown. To an additional tube labeled blank, add 0.10 ml. of concentrated H 2 S0 4 . Add 5.0 ml. of phosphovanillin reagent to each tube and mix well. Incubate all tubes for 15 min. at 37 C. Cool the tubes for 5 min. at room temperature. Measure the absorbance of unknown at 540 m^. against the blank within an additional 5 min. The color is stable for at least 10 min. The serum lipid concentration is calculated from absorbance values of standards taken through the entire procedure, as described above. Results and Discussion A plot of absorbance vs. lipid concentration is linear to 1,000 mg. per 100 ml. at 540 lrifi. Beer's law is not followed at lipid concentrations greater than 1,000 mg. per 100 ml., even though a sample containing 1,000 mg. of lipid per 100 ml. results in an absorbance of only 0.46 at 540 m^. in 19-mm. cuvettes. This finding is probably due to the solubility characteristics of vanillin. Serum samples which have total lipid concentrations greater than 1,000 mg. per 100 ml. should be diluted with 0.9% (w/v) NaCl and reassayed. To evaluate the reliability of the colorimetric method, we compared it with the gravimetric-extraction method of Jacobs and Henry. 4 The data in Table 1 show that the colorimetric method and the gravimetric-extraction method compare favorably. These results were selected at random and are typical of comparisons of more than 60 serum samples. The colorimetric method exhibits a coefficient of variation of 3.5%. In our laboratory the gravimetric method of Jacobs and Henry has a coefficient of variation of 9.6%. Olive oil was determined to be a suitable standard. Our evidence is based upon the January 1970 COLORIMETRIC DETERMINATION OF LIPIDS findings obtained from the comparison of the colorimetric method, using olive oil as the standard, with the gravimetric method (Table 1). Olive oil, triolein, oleic acid, linoleic acid, linolenic acid and cholesterol react quantitatively in the method. Either olive oil, which in our opinion is a suitable standard, or serum which has been assayed previously by a gravimetric-extraction method can be used. The exact chemistry involved in this method, just as in many methods in lipid chemistry, is not completely understood. It appears that a carbon-to-carbon double bond is necessary for the reaction to proceed as described above. In human serum, there are essentially no interfering substances since naturally-occurring compounds with carbon-carbon double bonds other than lipids (fatty acids, cholesterol, cholesterol esters, triglycerides and phospholipids) are found in very small amounts. Secobarbital was found to react in the procedure, presumably because of the CELCH =CH« group, but is not considered an interfering compound because the levels of 91 secobarbital necessary to cause color formation are incompatible with life. The small volume of serum required (0.1 ml.), in addition to the simplicity, speed, and reliability of the proposed method, make it suitable for large-scale analyses as well as for analyzing pediatric samples. References 1. Bragdon, J. H.: Colorimetric determination of blood lipides. J. Biol. Chem., 190: 513-517, 1951. 2. Cheek, C. S., and Wease, D. F.: A summation tcchnic for serum total lipids. Clin. Chem., 15: 102-107, 1969. 3. Drevon, B., and Schmit, J. M.: La reaction sulfophosplio-vanillique dans l'etude des lipides seriques. Bull. Trav. Soc. Pharm. (Lyon), 8: 173178, 1964. 4. Jacobs, S. L., and Henry, R. J.: Studies on the gravimetric determination of serum lipids. Clin. Chim. Acta, 7: 270-276, 1962. 5. Kunkel, H. C , Alliens, E. H., and Eiscnmenger, W. J.: Application of tuibidimetric methods for estimation of gamma globulin and total lipid to the study of patients with liver disease. Gastroenterology, 11: 499-507, 1948. 6. Postma, T., and Stroes, J. A. P.: Lipid screening in clinical chemistry. Clin. Chim. Acta, 22: 569-578. 1968. 7. Sperry, W. M.: Gravimetric determination of total lipids in blood serum or plasma. In Seligson, D. (ed.): Standard Methods of Clinical Chemistry. Vol. 4. New York, Academic Press, Inc., 1963, pp. 173-182.
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