Analogues of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid and sodium fluoride as anticoagulants

Three analogues of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), ethyleneglycoltetraacetic acid (EGTA), ethylendiaminedipropionic acid (EDDP), and hexamethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (HDTA), and sodium fluoride (NaF) were evaluated as anticoagulants used for rapid and multi-parametric analysis with minimal amounts of blood. EDDP and HDTA induced rapid blood coagulation (< 30 min), while NaF was not useful for coagulation tests because no coagulation was observed by addition of PT- or APTT-reagents. EGTA could be used for hematology and coagulation tests, although platelet count was significantly decreased in comparison with EDTA treated blood due to platelet aggregation, although prothrombin time was prolonged with EGTA-treated blood. Platelet aggregation could be prevented by addition of kanamycin. In chemistry tests, correlations between serum values and EGTA and kanamycin treated plasma values were good for all items. Based on these findings, we concluded that EGTA could be used for hematology, coagulation, and chemistry tests, although with some limitations.