SUMMARY A commercial kit for the radioisotopic assay of folate in serum, the Bio-Rad 'Quanta Count' folate kit, produced lower results than the Lactobacillus casei microbiological assay method.Its normal range was 2-0-13 0,ug/l and the reproducibility was similar to that of the microbiological assay method. The kit was also satisfactory for whole blood folate assays. The cost requires careful consideration before the kit is used for routine purposes.For many years most laboratories have depended upon a microbiological technique for folate assays. Radioisotope methods using tritium or carbon-14 labels have been available, but their use has been limited by the expense of appropriate counting equipment. Recently, however, several commercial kits using radioiodinated labelled folate compounds, measurable in widely used gamma counters, have appeared, and we here report our experiences with one of them including comparison with a microbiological assay.
Material and methods
RADIOISOTOPE TECHNIQUE'Quanta Count' folate kits were supplied by Bio-Rad Laboratories Ltd. The radio-ligand method is based on the principle of saturation analysis. Each kit contains iodine-125 (1251) labelled pteroyl glutamic acid (Pte-Glu) derivative, borate buffer pH 9-6, absorbent charcoal tablets, and ,8 lactoglobulin as binding agent. The six standards supplied consist of lyophilised folate-free human serum containing varying amounts of Pte-Glu, range 0-20 ug/l when reconstituted. The kits available are sufficient for testing 44 or 94 unknown samples in duplicate; 0-1 ml of sample is diluted in 1-0 ml of isotope in borate buffer. The diluted samples are heated for 15 minutes in a boiling bath and cooled to room temperature; 1I0 ml of binder is added and the samples are incubated at room temperature for 30 minutes. An absorbent tablet is added to each tube and, after vortex mixing, the tubes are centrifuged.