RELIABILITY
OF POCKET SIZE LACTATE ANALYZER
Mamen, A.,1 Medbø, J.I.2
1Sogn og Fjordane College, 2National Institute
of Occupational Health, Norway
The blood lactate concentration is often measured during training.
Until recently lactate analyzers have been very expensive, relatively heavy
and difficult to use, making lactate analyses more suited for laboratory
experiments than for field use. Recently two battery-driven pocket-size
lactate analyzers weighing »100
g have been developed. We have examined the performance of these analyzers
under different conditions. In the laboratory the Lactate Pro LT-1710 (Arkray
factory inc, KDK corp., Japan) performed well against the reference method,
enzymatic photofluorometry, with the regression equation Y = –0.29 + 1.127x.
r = 0.992 and an error of regression (SY|x) of 0.56 mmol L-1
(n = 115). The slope is larger than 1.00 (P < 0.001). The regression
equation of Accusport from Boehringer Mannheim, Germany was Y = 0.92 +
0.814x; r = 0.991, SY|x = 0.41 mmol L-1 (n=45). The
slope and intercept differed from 1.00 and 0.0, respectively (P < 0.001).
This instrument thus gave too high readings on samples with lactate concentrations
< 5 mmol L-1 and too low readings on samples with higher
concentrations. Measurements by the Lactate Pro were not affected by hypoxia
(pO2 < 10 kPa) or by hypothermia (–20 ºC) when the instrument
was well shielded from the cold. The Accusport showed too high values in
hypoxia but correct readings at low temperatures. Conclusion: The
Lactate Pro is easy to use, it requires only a small blood sample of »5
µl and gives reliable results under a wide variety of field conditions.
Asgeir Mamen
Sogn og Fjordane College
PB 133, dep. of Physical Education
N-6851 Sogndal, Norway
Ph.:+47 57 67 63 25, Fax.:+47 57 67
63 33, e-mail: asgeir.mamen@hisf.no