Direct fluorometric determination of total cholesterol in serum using derivatized cholesterol oxidase

In this paper the use of cholesterol oxidase derivatized with a fluorescein derivative is proposed for the direct determination of total cholesterol in blood serum. The method is based on the changes in the fluorescence of the solution during the enzymatic reaction (lambda(exc) = 498 nm and lambda(em) = 519 nm). A mathematical model which relates the analytical signal to the total cholesterol concentration was developed, and the model ran also be used to obtain some of the thermodynamic constants of the process. The method has a linear response range up to 70 mg/L, of cholesterol, a detection limit of 2.5 mg/L, and the precision was 1.0% (40 mg/L cholesterol, n = 10). The method was applied to total cholesterol determination in blood serum samples. The results were compared to those obtained by a commercial analyzer, and statistically similar results were obtained. The use of derivatized cholesterol oxidase makes it possible to simplify the methodology normally used in this type of determination (the indicator reaction is avoided and the number of reagents reduced), with the added advantage that the analytical signal is independent of the concentrations of O-2 and cholesterol oxidase.