• Question: What equipment do you use to analyse blood?

    Asked by 457sprg52 to Stephanie, LauraAnne, Katy, Helen, Emilia, Dan, Andrew on 7 Nov 2016.
    • Photo: Dan Gordon

      Dan Gordon answered on 7 Nov 2016:

      Very nice question. This does depend on what we want to look at in the blood. SO for example if we are looking at how much haemoglobin there is in the blood we use a system that is calibrated against O2, additionally this system measures the light spectrum of the sample. The amount of light that is refracted reflects the O2 concentration. For something like lactate we use a system called an EKF which uses an oxidative reaction to calculate the lactate concentration. However not all blood analysis needs a blood sample. For example when we want to look at the O2 saturation in the blood we use an infrared Doppler which sits on the top if the finger. This calculation is based on the amount of infrared light that is absorbed. We also use a system called Near infrared spectroscopy which allo0ws us to record in real time across a working muscle the amount of oxygenated and deoxygenated blood that is travelling in the system.

    • Photo: Katy Griggs

      Katy Griggs answered on 7 Nov 2016:

      Great question. Like Dan says it really depends on what you want to measure but also the size of your sample. Blood lactate is generally measured using a very small sample of blood from the ear or fingertip whilst taking blood from the veins (like when you have a blood test) you can measure lots of different markers, such as red and white blood cell count.

    • Photo: Helen Hanstock

      Helen Hanstock answered on 7 Nov 2016:

      My work is on immune function so I use a technique called ELISA to work out the concentration of different proteins, such as hormones or antibodies in the blood. Basically, the way it works is that you have a kit containing a chemical that binds to the protein you want to measure. This produces a colour change reaction and you can measure the intensity of the colour produced by measuring the absorbance of light at a particular wavelength. The intensity of the colour gives you an idea of the concentration of the protein you are measuring.

      In short – a lot of (bio)chemistry!

    • Photo: Emilia McAllister-Jepps

      Emilia McAllister-Jepps answered on 8 Nov 2016:

      Hi, great question!

      The testing that I most commonly use which involves blood is testing the level of Lactic Acid and H+ in my blood. This is useful because it can indicate how hard I am finding a training session, we also use this kind of testing at the beginning of a season in order to establish what level we need to train at in order to achieve certain outcomes.

      There are two methods that are used to do this, firstly the blood is normally taken from a pin prick in the finger, or ear. The skin is wiped before blood is collected so the sample is not contaminated with sweat etc. The sample is then kept in a test tube and tested either with a Biosin Analyser or a YSI Analyser. The test measures the pH levels of your blood to see how much Lactic Acid is present. You measure the levels of H+ and Lactate in the blood, the test is looking for the levels of H+ in the blood.

    • Photo: LauraAnne Furlong

      LauraAnne Furlong answered on 9 Nov 2016:

      I don’t do any experiments with blood now, but we used to use a little machine which takes a drop of blood from your finger to analyse it for lactate. In muscle function research, some people don’t take blood but instead take what we call a muscle biopsy which is like taking a little slice out of your muscle – its a procedure which involves blood, but for a different reason!

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