BD Vacutainer - Venous Blood Collection Tube Guide - Additive and Use by Tube Color

Oct 14, 2026

Guide to BD Vacutainer® venous blood collection tubes organized by tube color and closure type, covering additives, blood draw volumes, and key laboratory use cases. Provides invert guidance and mixing rationale for each additive system, including serum chemistry, plasma chemistry, whole blood hematology, coagulation determinations, molecular diagnostics applications, and trace-element/toxicology chemistry. Includes notes on special labeling, partial-draw behavior, performance validation requirements, and trademark/copyright information.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryGeneral

FormatPDF

Pages1

AccessFree to download

Tube overview

Additives, draw volumes, and laboratory use by tube color

BD Vacutainer ® Venous Blood Collection Tube Guide For the full array of BD Vacutainer® Blood Collection Tubes, [visit www.bd.com](visit www.bd.com). Many are available in a variety of sizes and draw volumes. Refer to our website for full descriptions. | BD Vacutainer® Tubes
with BD Hemogard™
Closure | | BD Vacutainer® Tubes with Conventional Stopper | Additive | Inversionsat Blood Collection* | Laboratory use | Laboratory notes | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | |
Red | |
Red | • Silicone coated (glass)
• Clot activator-Silicone coated (plastic) | 0
5 | For chemistry determinations in serum. May be used for routine blood donor screening and diagnostic testing of serum for infectious disease.** Tube inversions ensure mixing of clot activator with blood. Blood clotting time: 60 minutes. | | |
Gold | |
Red/ Gray | • Clot activator
and gel for serum separation | 5 | For chemistry determinations in serum. May be used for routine blood donor screening and diagnostic testing of serum for infectious disease.** Tube inversions ensure mixing of clot activator with blood. Blood clotting time: 30 minutes. | | | Orange | | | • Thrombin-based
clot activator with
gel for serum
separation | 5 to 6 | For stat chemistry determinations in serum.
Tube inversions ensure mixing of clot activator with blood. Blood clotting time: 5 minutes. | | |
Light Green | | | • Lithium heparin
and gel for
plasma separation | 8 | For chemistry determinations in plasma.
Tube inversions ensure mixing of anticoagulant (heparin) with blood to prevent clotting. | | | |
Translucent Green |
Green | • Sodium heparin
• Lithium heparin | 8
8 | For chemistry determinations in plasma.
Tube inversions ensure mixing of anticoagulant (heparin) with blood to prevent clotting. | | | |
Translucent Lavender |
Lavender | • Liquid K3EDTA (glass)
• Spray-coated K2EDTA (plastic) | 8
8 | K2EDTA and K3EDTA for whole blood hematology determinations. K2EDTA may be used for routine immunohematology testing.***
Tube inversions ensure mixing of anticoagulant (EDTA) with blood to prevent clotting. | | |
Pink | | | • Spray-coated K2EDTA (plastic) | 8 | For whole blood hematology determinations. May be used for routine immunohematology testing.*** Designed with special cross-match label for patient information required by the AABB. Tube inversions ensures mixing of anticoagulant (EDTA) with blood to prevent clotting. | | |
White | | | • K2EDTA and gel for plasma separation | 8 | For use in molecular diagnostic test methods (such as, but not limited to, polymerase chain reaction [PCR] and/or branched DNA [bDNA] amplification techniques.) Tube inversions ensure mixing of anticoagulant (EDTA) with blood to prevent clotting. | | | | | | Buffered sodium citrate 0.109 M (3.2%) plastic | 3-4 | For coagulation determinations. Tube inversions ensure mixing of anticoagulant (citrate) to prevent clotting. | | | Light Clear
Blue | | | | | | | |
Gray | |
Gray | • Potassium oxalate/ sodium fluoride
• Sodium fluoride/Na2EDTA
• Sodium fluoride
(serum tube) | 8
8
8 | For glucose determinations. Oxalate and EDTAare anticoagulants and NaF is an antiglycolytic agent. Tube inversions ensure proper mixing of additive with blood. | | |
Royal Blue | | | • Clot activator
(plastic)
• K2EDTA (plastic) | 8
8 | For trace-element, toxicology, and nutritionalchemistry determinations in serum or plasma. Special stopper formulation provides low levels of trace elements (see package insert) . Tube inversions ensure proper mixing of additive with blood. | | | | |
Yellow | • Sodium polyanethol sulfonate (SPS)
• Acid citrate dextrose additives (ACD):
– Solution A:
22.0 g/L trisodium citrate, 8.0 g/L citric acid,
24.5 g/L dextrose
– Solution B:
13.2 g/L trisodium citrate, 4.8 g/L citric acid,
14.7 g/L dextrose | 8
8

FAQs

Are there performance or validation notes for infectious disease and immunohematology testing?

Yes. The guide states that performance characteristics for general infectious disease or immunohematology testing are not established and users must validate use for their specific assay/instrument/reagent combinations and specimen storage conditions.

Oct 14, 2026

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