Friday, October 10, 2014

Basic Knowledge On Thyroid ELISA Kits

By Jocelyn Davidson


ELISA is short for enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. This is a diagnostic medical test to see if there is any present antibody or antigen in the body of a person. Its purpose is for calibrating the immunity of a person in terms of diseases and viruses. It identifies the protein concentration in the bodily fluids of a person.

One of these examples is for HIV, where it finds antibodies related to the virus inside the blood. Another would be for the thyroid glands, and the common equipment that are used in laboratories are Thyroid ELISA kits. These kits are used for studying the thyroid glands, as well as other types of kits are used for other body parts.

In science and in certain industries, this test is used as one of the many tools of plant pathology and also with quality control check. Other examples this test is used for in diagnostic clinics are for food allergy and illegal drugs. The reading for this is determined by the vibrancy and intensity of the color changes in swabs whenever a sample is tested.

There are a few other ELISA tests that are available and existent, but the two common types are the indirect and capture. The indirect detects a certain protein or antibody, and an example for this is the HIV testing. The capture, also known as the sandwich, detects another protein which is the antigen, then captures it between two antibodies. An example is pregnancy tests where the detection of hCG or human chorionic gonadotropin is seen.

There are many ways to collect samples from the patient or donor. Two common ways are from blood or urine, which by now, you have already guessed, is taken during tests in clinics and hospitals. For blood samples, they are placed inside a test tube and sent to the laboratories for further analysis. Inside the laboratory, the actual testing would begin.

The human blood samples inside the test tubes will be placed in a centrifuge to separate the different parts of it and for it to get a blood serum. A blood serum is a sample that has the clotting feature taken out of it. The high speed from the centrifuge separates the cells and plasma, making it easier to extract the serum.

There are enzyme substrate combinations that can be used for detection. The one enzyme used the most is Horseradish Peroxidase. This cleaves or separates the substrate molecules Ortho Phenylenediamine Dihydrochloride, or OPD, and Tetramethylbenzidine, or TMB, from each other. The result would be a yellow color when these two are separated. Then a plate reader is used to measure the optical density.

In cases where the patient has revealed to have a disease or other conditions, the sample will have antibodies for that specific disease. The antibodies will then attach to these antigens that are the bonding agents in these ELISA tests. The samples would then be cleaned or washed away with a different solution so that the remaining in the sample would be the antigens or the antibodies that are clinging to the antigens.

Color changes, as mentioned before, are where you can achieve the results. Enzyme solutions are applied in the samples to get these results if they give out a positive result or not. There might be some instances where the sample from the patient has no known infection or disease but the test still outputs a positive result, this is known as a false positive. Even though this is possible, ELISA tests are definitely reliable and commonly used as well, which is considered by the immunology community.




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