Among sodium fluoride and lithium iodoacetate, which preserves glucose longer and why?

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Multiple Choice

Among sodium fluoride and lithium iodoacetate, which preserves glucose longer and why?

The main idea is stopping glycolysis after the blood is drawn so glucose isn’t eaten up by cells. Sodium fluoride inhibits a key enzyme in glycolysis (enolase), which effectively halts the pathway and keeps glucose levels from dropping for a longer period, especially when the sample is stored properly with an anticoagulant. That’s why glucose can be preserved for about three days with fluoride-containing tubes. Lithium iodoacetate blocks another glycolytic enzyme (GAPDH), but in practice its stabilizing effect is shorter, around one day, due to stability and handling issues with the reagent. So sodium fluoride provides better, longer glucose preservation.

The main idea is stopping glycolysis after the blood is drawn so glucose isn’t eaten up by cells. Sodium fluoride inhibits a key enzyme in glycolysis (enolase), which effectively halts the pathway and keeps glucose levels from dropping for a longer period, especially when the sample is stored properly with an anticoagulant. That’s why glucose can be preserved for about three days with fluoride-containing tubes. Lithium iodoacetate blocks another glycolytic enzyme (GAPDH), but in practice its stabilizing effect is shorter, around one day, due to stability and handling issues with the reagent. So sodium fluoride provides better, longer glucose preservation.

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