Comparison of Mini-spectrophotometer and Conventional spectrophotometers Efficiency for Determination of Protein and Albumin

Introduction: Since conventional spectrophotometer is typical large, complex, expensive, and not suitable of infield analysis, therefore a recent portable Mini-spectrophotometer with light emitting diode (LED) light source and microwell has been developed. This prototype has basic principle assay as a conventional spectrophotometer. However, there is no validation study for this prototype. Therefore, the objective of this study is to compare the efficiency of Mini-spectrophotometer and conventional spectrophotometers for detection of protein and albumin. Method: The efficiency evaluation included Within-run, Between-run, and %Recovery. Comparison study was performed by comparing with Shimadzu and CECIL spectrophotometer. Result: For protein determination, Within-run precision was 2.9 - 10.4%, Between-run precision was 11.6 - 20.5%, and Recovery was 97.15%. For albumin determination, Within-run precision was 2.7 - 8.4%, Between-run precision was 8.3 - 18.1%, and Recovery was 106.25%. The comparison of protein analysis showed good correlation (r = 0.9069, 0.9098) and the differences between the two spectrophotometers are within mean ±1.96 SD. For albumin analysis, the comparison results showed better correlation (r = 0.9536, 0.9516) and no apparent bias for albumin concentration. Conclusion: Mini-spectrophotometer showed lower accuracy and precision comparing with conventional spectrophotometers. Because the correlation coefficient is lower than 0.975. Even though the mean differences between the two instruments are within mean ± 1.96 SD. Therefore, this prototype needs further development to improve the efficiency for patient sample analysis.