What is the final dilution when 200 microliters of patient serum is diluted with 800 microliters of saline?

To determine the final dilution when diluting patient serum with saline, one must consider both the volume of the serum and the volume of the added saline. In this scenario, when 200 microliters of patient serum is mixed with 800 microliters of saline, the total volume of the solution becomes 200 microliters plus 800 microliters, equaling 1000 microliters.

The final dilution can be expressed as a ratio of the volume of the serum to the total volume of the solution. In this case, the volume of serum is 200 microliters, and the total volume is 1000 microliters. The dilution factor can be calculated as follows:

The ratio of serum to total solution volume is:

• Serum volume: 200 microliters

• Total volume: 1000 microliters

To express this as a dilution, one can simplify the ratio:

1. Calculate the dilution factor:

[

\text{Dilution factor} = \frac{\text{total volume}}{\text{serum volume}} = \frac{1000}{200} = 5

]

This indicates that there is 1 part serum in 5 parts of