Prediction of Vitamin A Concentration in Cattle Blood Based on Fluorescence Properties of Plasma Extracted by a Blood Cell Separation Filter.

In the production of highly marbled beef from Japanese Black cattle, fattening management involves reducing blood vitamin A (VA) concentrations during the feeding period to enhance marbling. To avoid excessive restriction, regular blood testing is essential, and there is a strong demand for simple and rapid measurement methods. In this study, we replaced centrifugation with a plasma filter that has a blood cell separation function, and plasma was absorbed onto a glass fiber filter for fluorescence measurements to estimate VA concentrations. The fluorescence intensity of VA on the glass fiber filter increased with concentration, yielding an R² of 0.93, a root mean square error (RMSE) of 9.63 IU/dL, and a ratio of standard deviation to predicted standard error (RPD) of 3.84 by PLS. These results demonstrate that VA concentrations can be estimated with practical accuracy within 30 min on the same day of blood sampling. This technology is expected to contribute to the development of rapid and simple methods for blood VA measurement in the future.