Evaluation of trace-element contamination from serum collection tubes used by the California Biobank Program

Serum samples archived by the California Biobank Program (CBP) can be a valuable resource to researchers with multiple benefits: affordability, relatively large sample sizes, and racial and geographical representativeness. However, there has been little attention given to the reliability of CBP samples for trace-element analysis. The objectives of this study are to estimate the contamination levels from the serum separation tubes (SST, BD 367983) utilized by the CBP for 13 trace elements (Cr, Mn, Co, As, Se, Sr, Mo, Cd, Sb, Hg, Tl, Pb and U) and to evaluate the feasibility of the use of CBP serum samples for biomonitoring trace elements in human body.

Serum separation tubes were tested using deionized (DI) water and whole blood and compared with two alternative sampling devices, plasma separation tubes (PST, BD 365047) and acid-cleaned blood tubes (ABT, BD 367856).

The leaching tests for SSTs with DI water demonstrated that detectable levels of Cr, Mn, Co, Sr, Sb, Pb and U were measured, while Sb was elevated. Tests of PSTs also revealed contamination of Mn, Co, Sr and Sb, with Co and Sr being much higher than those found from SSTs. As a more direct approach to estimate trace element contamination, a 45-day time series was conducted using human blood. The differences in elemental concentrations leached into serum/plasma was not considerable between the three types of sampling tubes for Cr, As, Se, Mo, Cd, Hg and Tl. However, SSTs had far greater concentrations than the ABTs for Mn, Co, Sr, Sb and U. For Co and Sr, the PSTs had higher concentrations throughout the experiment than both ABTs and SSTs. Pb showed lower concentrations from the PSTs than the other tubes; we speculate this may be due to re-suspension of settled cellular materials that are elevated in Pb, or re-dissolution of Pb from these materials. Trace-element measurements from 200 samples archived by the CBP using SSTs suggest that SST contamination was negligible for Se and Mo. For Mn, As, Sr, Cd and Hg, based on our leaching results, only a fraction of these samples had considerably high concentrations (e.g., > 10×) compared to the contamination from the SST. For Cr, Co, Sb, Tl, Pb and U, analyte levels were too low in most samples compared to the contamination from the SSTs. Our study also demonstrated that the PSTs could be a "cleaner" alternative to SSTs for analytes such as Cr, As, Cd, Hg, Tl, Pb and U.