الفهرس 
Introduction and Aim of the workOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Background: Detection of HCV-RNA is a costly procedure in both time and reagents. Moreover, one
important issue of HCV-testing is the storage conditions of serum to obtain reliable results. Thus, capillary
zone electrophoresis (CZE) method was developed to detect HCV-specific peak in small-volume body
fluids. Serum stability after storage at different temperatures was studied.
Methods: CZE was optimized to identify a specific peak in serum, plasma and ascetic fluid from HCVinfected
patients. Agreement between serum and body fluids measurements was assessed using correlation
and Bland–Altman plots. Samples from HCV-infected patients were stored at 25◦C, 4◦C and -20◦C.
Results: Using CZE, HCV-specific peak was identified in body fluids of HCV-infected patients with HCVRNA
of 1.267–1660×103 IU/mL using quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Unlike ascetic fluid,
serum and plasma measurements were strongly correlated (r=0.94). Bland-Altman plot showed good
agreement between serum and plasma results as most peak-height values (98%) were present within
±1.96×SD of the mean difference. Serum samples at -20oC showed the best preservation of the HCV-peak
up to 1 year whereas the storage at 25◦C or 4oC caused non-significant decline in the peak-height after 2
months.
Conclusion: Beside samples stability to maintain their peak height, this method is rapid, well-suited and
low-cost technique. Thus, it may improve HCV-diagnosis in different body fluids and avoid problems
associated with PCR.