Stability of brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) in human blood samples

Stability of immunoreactivity of human brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) in b lood samples was investigated. After storage of the whole blood samples in the blood collecting tubes made of glass or polyethylene terephthalate (PET ), residual immunoreactivity of BNP in the plasma was measured by sandwich radioimmunoassay for human BNP BNP ire the blood samples collected in the P ET tubes were kept more stable than that in the glass tubes. The results su ggested that commercially available PET tubes would enable more accurate BN P values and this would also help to simplify the sample preparation. (C) 1 999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.