Basis of differentiation | Absorbance | Fluorescence |
Definition | Absorbance is a measure of the capacity of a substance to absorb light of a specific wavelength | Fluorescence is the emission of light from a substance that has absorbed energy previously |
Effectiveness | Is less effective due to the technique not being sample-specific | Is more effective because the assay is highly specific |
Functionality | Is a rapid and easy-to-use method | Is a more complex and time-consuming method |
Sample preparation | Does not require sample preparation (no dilution or assay preparation necessary) | Requires sample preparation (sample of interest must be bound with the fluorescent reagents in an assay kit) |
Sensitivity | The most sensitive spectrophotometer is able to detect as low as 0.75 nanogram per microliter of dsDNA in a 1 microliter sample | Fluorescence analysis assays can detect 0.005 nanograms per microliter of sample |
Dynamic Range | Has a higher broadcast range than fluorescence analysis (able to detect 37500 nanograms per microliter) | Has a lower dynamic range than absorbance (able to detect up to 4000 nanograms per microliter) |
Contamination detection | Many contaminants can be identified using absorbance measurement across an array of wavelengths typically 260/280 nm and 260/230 nm) | Fluorescence is unable to identify contamination within a sample |