Impact of a New Formulated Silicone-Based Separator Gel on Clinical Chemistry Assays

A blood Serum Separator Tube (SST) containing separator gels is widely used for clinical laboratory tests. This study aims to optimize the condition of a newly formulated serum separator gel and to investigate the impact of this gel on some clinical chemistry assays. Design Expert statistical software was used to predict the optimum condition of filler content and to achieve a desired density range. The newly developed polymeric (silicone oil) gel was prepared by using 8 and 10 phr di cumyl peroxide and silica in formulation, respectively. The results reveal that this new gel shows thixotropic behavior with the desired density of 1.05 g/mL. Afterward, a total of 22 clinical assays was performed on samples that were collected in newly developed gel-based serum tubes and commercial SSTs with and without separator gel. In all selected clinical assays, the results of samples collected in SSTs with newly developed gel and commercial gels were more or less the same. Moreover, the experimental data shows this new gel interacts less with blood samples in comparison with commercial gel tubes in some tests. Consequently, the new SST gives satisfactory performance and minimum interference in selected clinical assay results.