Red Cell Folate Testing
Unwarranted and Overutilized in the Era of Folic Acid Supplementation
Quantitation of Folate: Methods
November 2010
There are a number of methods which can be utilized to quantitate serum or red cell folate. These include microbiologic assays, competitive protein-binding assays, or chromatography. A majority of laboratories, including Mayo, use a protein-binding assay with chemiluminescent detection for both serum and red blood cell folate, where the red cell hemolysate is prepared by lysing with ascorbic acid, which releases the intracellular folate, again primarily in the 5-tetrahydrofolate form.
Quantitation of Folate: Methods |
Jump to section:
- Introduction
- Folate
- Folate
- Selected Food Sources of Folate and Folic Acid*
- Causes of Folate Deficiency
- Laboratory Diagnosis of Folate Deficiency
- Folate and Vitamin B12 Deficiency
- Quantitation of Folate: Methods
- Differences Between Folate Immunoassays
- Analytical Imprecision: RBC Folate (CAP Surveys)
- Equivalence of Serum and RBC Folate
- Modern Folate Deficiency is Rare
- Mayo RBC/Serum Folate Orders 1999-2009
- Conclusions
- Questions?
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