Method for fully automated determination of total cholesterol in blood serum, including saponification and extraction.

A fully automated method has been developed for the determination of total cholesterol in blood serum, using the AutoAnalyzer system. According to the new method, based on the cholesterol determination of Abell et a!. (1), the serum sample is saponified and subsequently extracted with carbon tetrachloride. After treatment with Liebermann-Burchard reagent, the amount of cholesterol is determined at 630 nm. The method can be used for free and esterified cholesterol be:ause saponification is carried out. The relationship between the new method and that of Abell et a!. is linear. The correlation coefficient is 0.98 and the standard error 1.5%. According to the new method, 30 samples can be analyzed per hour.