Plasma sample preparation by ultrafiltration for total body water determination.

Abstract

Measurement of total body water (TBW) content is of importance because TBW can be significantly altered during disease conditions, especially in diseases where the patient can be “waterlogged.”1 This increase in TBW content can result in drug dosing errors and other complications.2,3 Among the available methods of TBW estimation, the isotope dilution technique is considered to be the “gold standard.” However, these techniques require significant expertise and have relatively long and time-consuming preparatory phases, which reduce their efficiency and clinical use. Therefore, our aim was to develop a new and more efficient technique to prepare human plasma samples containing deuterium oxide (D2O) for Fourier Transform InfraRed (FTIR) analysis for TBW determination. This technique needed to efficient to enable TBW determination on a large scale and as quickly as possible.