What is Clot Activator Tube(Red Top Tube)?

The Clot Activator tube, also known as the pro-coagulant tube, is used to collect serum samples for biochemical and immunological testing. It can also be used for quick, outpatient, emergency serum biochemical examinations. The clot blood tubes can operate in a wide range of temperatures. Within minutes, blood clots entirely, and centrifugation produces high-quality serum. The suggested storage temperature is 4°C–25°C, the centrifugation speed is 3500–4000 rpm, and the centrifugation period is 5 minutes. The time required to complete clot shrinking is 20–25 minutes.

What is clot activator?

Glass or silica particles used in clot activators help blood clot.

What is the purpose of the clot activator tube (Red top tube)?

Silica particles in the clot activator tube speed up the blood clotting process. The clear serum can then be extracted from the blood sample and used for testing after centrifugation.

What are serum and plasma?

Serum and plasma are both the liquid, cell-free component of blood that can be separated using centrifugation, but the main distinction between the two is that serum is the byproduct of blood that has been allowed to clot, whereas, in a plasma sample, the dense cells are simply spun to the bottom.

Simply said, the serum is a cell-free liquid that is also depleted of coagulation factors that remains in the blood after it clots. It can be a reliable, accurate approach to measuring the proteins, lipids, hormones, electrolytes, and other components of blood. Many of these markers can be frozen down and measured later in batches, or they can be kept in the refrigerator for days.

The no additive blood tubes( Red top/red cap), clot activator tubes(Red top/red cap), and SST blood collection tubes(Yellow top) are used to collect the serum for testing.

What is the feature of the serum clot activator tubes (red top tubes)?

1. The clot activator tube body is composed of stable PET or glass material;

2. The head red cap is secure, with good air tightness, tiny puncture force, and easy opening and capping;

3. The inner wall is exceedingly smooth and is equally coated by a coagulant, to ensure the blood samples thoroughly contact after entering the tube;

4. Good compatibility, able to match with many biochemical, immunological, blood, and other analyzers' transmission devices;

The comparison between plain tube and clot activator tube

	Plain Blood Tube	Clot Activator tube
Cap color	Red top
Additive	No additive	Clot activator
Usage	Clinical biochemistry, Immunology, Serology test
Clotting speed	Relatively slow	Relatively fast
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