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Infrared spectrophotometric analysis of serum triglycerides

Author

Gerald J. Miille, University of the Pacific

Date of Award

1974

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (M.S.)

Department

Graduate School

First Advisor

Herschel Frye

First Committee Member

Richard P. Dodge

Second Committee Member

Emerson G. Cobb

Abstract

In recent years elevated levels of serum triglycerides have become of increasing importance in the field of medical technology. Abnormally high triglycerides have been claimed to be a major cause of numerous diseases and illnesses. Fredrickson and his associates (7, 15) have introduced a system for classifying hyperlipidemia and in all classes elevated triglycerides is a major laboratory finding. Disorders include obesity, diabetes, pancreatitis, xanthomatosis, hypothyroidism, and liver and kidney diseases; but most important is atherosclerosis

Some work has been done in the development of new methods of serum triglyceride analyses. The most advanced work makes use of an "automated analyzer" of the type produced by Technicon Corporation under the trademark AutoAnalyzer. This instrument determines the serum levels by the same method as above but at a faster rate, but the equipment is costly. A second method makes use of light scattering indices (nephelometry) to assess serum triglycerides. Work in this area has been done by Helman, Blevins, and Gleason (12). Their results were consistent, in most cases, with those of the colorimetric method. Of the thirty Fredrickson classifications they made by nephelometry twenty-one were in agreement with manual methods. However, Baty and Batsakis (1) have concluded that nephelometry provides too indirect an assay to give consistent results for serum triglycerides. A third method employs chromatography and infrared spectrophotometry. Freeman, Lindgren, Ng, and Nichols (8) showed that first, the lipids could be separated by chromatographic techniques, and then the extraction could be analyzed by infrared measurements. However, it is found that fractionating the lipid leads to error and is quite time consuming. Still other methods use phenylhydrazine (13, 16), mercaptoacetic acid (5), or oxidation to yield aldehydes, which are then thin-layer chromatographed (18).

In light of the numerous above methods and the error and time involved in analysis, the development of a new improved method with the time factor in mind was attempted. The use of infrared spectrophotometry was employed, but without the use of any prior extractions. It is hoped that this technique can give accurate and consistent values for triglyceride levels with a minimum amount of time expended. The new method should also be easy to install with a simplified procedure which would minimize error.

Pages

92

Recommended Citation

Miille, Gerald J.. (1974). Infrared spectrophotometric analysis of serum triglycerides. University of the Pacific, Thesis. https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/uop_etds/1841