Amino Acid Laboratory

Amino Acid Laboratory

The Amino Acid Laboratory is in the Department of Molecular Biosciences of the School of Veterinary Medicine and Dr. Jennifer Larsen is the Academic Director. It offers analyses for research and diagnostic purposes. It is a nonprofit laboratory; the fee structure is approved by the University.

Sample Type for Disease Diagnosis:

• Cardiac Disease (Dilated Cardiomyopathy, with or without congestive heart failure): Plasma or/and Whole Blood
• Hepatic Disease (Hepatocutaneous Syndrome, Hepatitis): Plasma
• Urolithiasis: Urine
• Research: Project-dependent sample types

Services and Current Rates

Please use the current Submission Form for all tests.  Please complete the submission form as thoroughly as possible, print it, and include it in your shipment.

RATES EFFECTIVE AS OF DECEMBER 2024.

Analysis of single analyte (including taurine, carnitine, thiamin, or other molecule*)

Analysis of multiple analytes (including complete amino acid panel, urinary animo acid excretion, or others*)

Analysis of multiple analytes with extra preparation (including food or solid tissue amino acid panels, food purine analysis, or others*)

Miscellaneous Rates

*We have the capability to analyze a range of molecules, using LC-MS methodology. Please contact us to discuss specific analytes not listed above.

Important Billing Information
 

For patient sample submissions: Please await the invoice to be emailed to your clinic (from no-reply@mail.ppms.info); payment via wire transfer, check, or credit card. Do not send a check with your sample. We can also bill the pet owner directly; please provide the needed information on the submission form.

For internal research submissions: Please provide your UC Account # (non-federal funds only).

Sample Types and Preparation

PLEASE NOTE: We do NOT spin down samples in our laboratory, if a plasma or serum test is desired, you must send plasma or serum.

Plasma (for complete amino acid analysis, taurine, or carnitine)

• If using a lithium-heparin (green top) tube or EDTA (purple top) tube:  Draw 2 ml (or more) of blood into the tube (not outdated).  Invert 5 times to mix.  Immediately centrifuge the blood and take off the plasma using a Pasteur pipette or eye dropper.  Take care not to disturb the buffy coat (white blood cells contain a lot of taurine).  Put the plasma into a no-additives tube (i.e.:  white top, red top, but NOT a serum separator). Plasma should be straw colored and not hemolyzed.
• If no green or purple top is available:  Add 2-3 drops of heparin in a syringe.  Draw blood into the syringe followed by approximately 1 cc of air to mix the blood and heparin thoroughly (invert approximately 5 times).  Remove the needle and place the blood in a no additives tube (i.e.:  white top, red top, but NOT a serum separator).  Immediately centrifuge the blood and take off the plasma using a Pasteur pipette or eye dropper.  Take care not to disturb the buffy coat (white blood cells contain a lot of taurine).  Put the heparinized plasma into a no-additives tube (i.e.:  white top, red top, but NOT a serum separator). Plasma should be straw colored and not hemolyzed.
   

Whole blood (for taurine only)

• If using a lithium-heparin (green top) tube:  Draw 2 ml (or more) of blood into the green top tube (not outdated).  Invert 5 times to mix.  No need to spin.
• If no green top is available:  Add 2-3 drops of heparin in a syringe.  Draw blood into the syringe followed by approximately 1cc of air to mix the blood and heparin thoroughly (invert approximately 5 times).  Remove the needle and place the blood in a no additives tube (i.e.:  white top, red top, but NOT a serum separator).  No need to spin.

Whole blood (for thiamin only)

• Fasting is recommended. If using an EDTA (purple top) tube:  Draw 2 ml (or more) of blood into the tube (not outdated).  Invert 5 times to mix. No need to spin. Freeze the sample promptly. 

Urine (for complete amino acid analysis, taurine, or cystine/creatinine analysis)

• Please send at least 1 ml in a urine tube (white top) or other “no additives” tube. Do not use a separator tube.

Shipping Samples

• If shipping the same day:  plasma, whole blood or urine samples for amino acid analysis can be held in the refrigerator until shipped.  Please ship on ice.
• If holding the sample 24 hours or longer, and for other analytes including vitamins:  plasma, whole blood, or urine samples should be frozen until shipped.  Please ship on ice.
• Please ship samples overnight using the carrier of your choice (FedEx, UPS, USPS).  We do not receive samples on weekends or University Holidays, so please only ship Mond-Wed for USPS or Mon-Thu for FedEx and UPS.

Our Mailing Address:

Amino Acid Laboratory, 1020 Vet Med 3B
University of California, Davis
1089 Veterinary Medicine Drive
1020 Vet Med 3B
Davis, CA 95616

Shipping Tips:

• Glass tubes will easily break in transit, please pad them appropriately.
• Tube lids can come off in transit, please fasten them securely.
• Submission forms are easily soaked due to leaky/wet ice packs, please fully enclose in a plastic bag.

Turnaround Time and Results

• Complete amino acid analysis results (for plasma and urine) will be available within 7 working days. Sample numbers larger than 50 may require additional time.
• Taurine analysis results (plasma, whole blood, urine) will be available within 5 working days.
• Samples needing hydrolysis or digestion (food, body tissue, or other solid samples) will require 3 additional days for any test.

We Process Samples using the Following Methods:

• Complete amino acids in physiological fluid samples: add 6% Sulfosalicylic Acid (SSA) (1:1) to sample for deproteinization, centrifuge the mixture at 14000 rm for 25 minutes, filter the supernatant through 0.45 mm syringe drive PTFE filter, adjust pH to 2.2, load 50 ml on Biochrom 30 amino acid analyzer.
• Complete amino acids in solid samples: hydrolyze 5 mg sample using 5 ml of 6 Nmol HCl in sealed ampoule (110ºC, 24 hrs.), dry the sample with nitrogen gas, dissolve it again in loading buffer, filter the hydrolyte and load 50 ml on Biochrom 30 amino acid analyzer without dilution.
• Free amino acids in tissues or feed: add 3% SSA solution to homogenized sample (10:1 V:W), let stand overnight at room temperature, centrifuge and filter the supernatant (0.45mm), adjust pH to 2.2 and load 50 ml on Biochrom 30 amino acid analyzer.

Note: An additional run is necessary to analyze feed samples for methionine or tryptophan. 

• We use the following method for amino acids : Amino acids in feeds. AOAC official method 994.12. In: Official methods of analysis of AOAC International. Gaithersburg, Md: AOAC International, 2005;9–19.
• To analyze for tryptophan in foods and food and feed ingredients, we use AOAC official method 988.15. In: Official methods of analysis of AOAC International. Gaithersburg, Md: AOAC International, 2005;88–89.

Taurine in plasma, urine, tissue and feed: the sample preparation procedure is the same as complete amino acid analysis.  Analyses are done with a Biochrom 30 amino acid analyzer.

Whole blood taurine: samples are frozen and thawed twice to break the cells and release all taurine before further processing.

Normal Taurine Values (nmols/ml) for Cat & Dog

Interpretation

Reference for Cats
Reference for Dogs
Sample Submission Form (pdf)

Reference Papers

S. Delaney Article (pdf)
Torres Article (pdf)
Spitze Article (pdf)
Heinze Article (pdf)