Serotonin, Whole Blood SERWB
| Method(s) | High Performance Liquid Chromatography |
|---|---|
| Specimen Required | |
| Collect | One 3 mL lavender (EDTA) top tube. Also acceptable: One pink (K2EDTA) top tube. Place on ice. Transfer whole blood into a Serotonin transport tube containing ascorbic acid. Mix well. Specimen must be preserved and frozen within 2 hours of collection. |
| Transport | 3 mL whole blood in a serotonin transport tube, frozen (Min: 1 mL). |
| Stability | Ambient: Unacceptable; Refrigerated: Unacceptable; Frozen: 1 month. |
| Unacceptable Conditions | Nonfrozen samples. Separate samples must be submitted when multiple tests are ordered. |
| Schedule | Sun, Tue-Fri |
| Billing Code | 5010657 |
| CPTCode | 84260 |
| Notes | CRITICAL FROZEN: Separate samples must be submitted when multiple tests are ordered. Medications that may affect serotonin concentrations include lithium, MAO inhibitors, methyldopa, morphine, and reserpine. In general, foods that contain serotonin do not interfere significantly. Slight increases may be seen in acute intestinal obstruction, acute MI, cystic fibrosis, dumping syndromes, and nontropical sprue. Metastasizing abdominal carcinoid tumors often show serotonin concentrations greater than 400 ng/mL. |
| Preferred Specimen Collection Device(s) | |
| Reference Interval | |
|
50 - 200 ng/mL |
|
