Abstract
Serum albumin determination is an important biochemical investigation in clinical laboratories. Photometric methods using albumin binding to organic dyes – bromocresol green (BCG) or bromocresol purple (BCP) – are most commonly used. These determinations are quick, simple, and inexpensive. They are, however, associated with a number of problems. Discussions on the methodological unification and use of BCP are ongoing in human laboratory medicine. The reaction of human albumin with this dye is more specific. On the other hand, its affinity for animal albumin is significantly lower, for which reason BCG is used in veterinary medicine. However, due to the lower reaction specificity of this dye, the results are slightly overestimated as the dye reacts to a lesser extent with alpha and beta globulins. This disadvantage can be largely eliminated by reducing the incubation time to about 30 s. Another problem is the method calibration. Some laboratories use species-specific albumin as calibrators, but this is technically challenging for a laboratory that analyzes albumin of many species. We therefore recommend using a commercially available calibrator that is traceable to the European Reference Material for Specific Proteins. We consider these following principles – using BCG, shortening the incubation time to 30 s and using the mentioned calibrator – as a basic condition to obtain clinically correct and inter-laboratory comparable results.
Highlights
Serum albumin determination is an important biochemical investigation in clinical laboratories
The bromocresol green (BCG) method is used in veterinary laboratories because its binding to albumin is less dependent on the animal origin of albumin than it is with bromocresol purple (BCP)
Albumin behaves as a cation in a weakly acidic environment and readily binds organic dyes usually containing anionic -SO3H groups
Summary
Serum albumin determination is an important biochemical investigation in clinical laboratories. Photometric methods using albumin binding to organic dyes – bromocresol green (BCG) or bromocresol purple (BCP) – are most commonly used. These determinations are quick, simple, and inexpensive. Its structure is different and so is its ability to bind different dyes For this reason, the BCG method is used in veterinary laboratories because its binding to albumin is less dependent on the animal origin of albumin than it is with BCP. This is an important factor in the use of BCG in veterinary medicine
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