Dry film preparation from whole blood, plasma and serum for quantitative infrared diffuse reflectance spectroscopy

The potential of infrared spectroscopy in the analysis of biotic fluids for the determination of important clinical parameters such as glucose and other blood substrates has been investigated. For this purpose dried films from whole blood, blood plasma and serum were prepared on diffusely reflecting gold-coated substrates from sandpaper of different grades. This enabled measurements in the mid and near infrared spectral ranges by using special diffuse reflectance accessories. The removal of water leads to a considerable enrichment of the fluid constituents. Due to the reduced sample complexity a considerable gain in spectral information is obtained. This is especially valid for measurements in the near infrared where the problems associated with variability in the spectra of aqueous samples due to several parameters, i.e. temperature, electrolyte content etc., are well known. Additionally, mid infrared studies were carried out into the stability of dried samples.