Masao Minemoto

Adsorption of insulin on soft-bag type containers of infusions and its prevention.

The extent of insulin adsorption on the internal surfaces of the 2 kinds of “soft-bag type” infusion containers was investigated by using high-performance liquid chromatography. The containers were newly commercially produced from ethylene vinyl acetate and polyvinyl chloride (PVC). The results were compared with those obtained from the experiments with standard infusion containers, glass and polypropylene bottles. After addition of insulin (10-40 I. U.) to 500 ml of the isotonic saline infusion, the adsorption attained to equilibrium fairly rapidly (within 5 min) and relatively small portions of the added insulin were lost (8-19%). Adsorption on the PVC intravenous tubing was also examined. Adsorption could be prevented by adding fat-soluble vitamin injections containing some surfactants.