Lactate generation and quantification is a topic of increasing interest in cancer metabolic research and also one of the most often measured parameters during clinical exercise testing and performance testing of athletes. Lactate also has different regulatory functions for wound development depending on the concentration present.
With high-end spectroscopic devices and appropriate chemometric methods it is possible to characterize the concentrations of lactate in complex systems in physiologically relevant amounts. A wavelength range from 2000 nm to 2400 nm can be used for the identification and quantification of lactate because of the two distinct absorption bands in this range. However, spectral overlaps occur with other components of wound fluid such as glucose, albumin (protein), triacetin (model substance for triglycerides), and urea.
This application note describes a procedure developed for quantification of lactate with multivariate (multi-wavelength) algorithm using PerkinElmer LAMBDA 1050+ UV/Vis/NIR spectrometer. With high stability, accuracy, and signal-to-noise ratio in the near infrared region to characterize complex matrices even in the presence of a large proportion of water, the LAMBDA 1050+ offers good potential for future noninvasive NIR lactate monitoring procedures.