Artifactual Changes in Whole Blood and Plasma Glucose Levels of Diabetic and Non Diabetic Blood Samples Twenty Four Hours (24 h) Post Collection

Analysis of diabetic blood may be delayed for hours post collection owing to several factors. Artifactual changes may occur thereby confounding the results. This study investigated some artifactual changes in glucose levels that may occur in diabetic blood stored at room temperature for 24 h. Ten (10) male Wistar rats were assigned to two (2) groups of five (5) rats per group. Group 1 rats were made diabetic by single intraperitoneal injection of 160 mg/kg of alloxan monohydrate while group 2 rats served as normal control. Rats with blood glucose values ≥ 126 mg/dl were considered diabetic. One week (7 days), following establishment of diabetes, blood samples were collected after overnight fasting from both diabetic and non diabetic rats using heparinized capillary tubes into sample bottles. Determination of the blood glucose values were done 1 h post collection and subsequently after every 2 h for 24 h on both whole blood and plasma. Results indicated earlier significant (p<0.05) decreases in the glucose values of diabetic whole blood samples compared to the non-diabetic counterpart. Decreases in the glucose levels of whole blood sample were significantly (p<0.05) higher compared to that of the plasma. It was concluded that the blood and plasma sugar levels of diabetic rats deteriorated faster compared to the non diabetic counterpart and that significant changes in the glucose levels of both blood and plasma occurred within 2 h post collection. The plasma sugar levels of non diabetic rats were unreliable (increased rather than decrease).