Monday, October 20, 2014

What You Need To Know About Thyroid ELISA Kits

By Jocelyn Davidson


ELISA is a medical test used in the enclosure of laboratories to figure out if a person has any certain disease or condition. It is an abbreviation from Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay, where it tests the presence of certain protein molecules in a sample. Its main purpose is for testing the immunity of a patient.

An example for this would be for HIV testing. It looks for the certain antibodies which is related to the HIV virus within the blood. In regards to the thyroid glands, what is used are Thyroid ELISA kits, which are very common. Other testing kits are available as well for other parts of the body.

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 two most common types of ELISA tests. The indirect detects protein or the antibody and the example for this is as what was mentioned, HIV tests. The other one is the capture or sandwich. It detects the antigen by capturing them between two antibodies. The hormone human chorionic gonadotropin, or hCG, is detected using sandwich. One example of this would be pregnancy tests.

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.

If the patient has already been determined to have a disease or condition, the samples of their blood or urine will have certain antibodies which will be the ones to react to the test. These antibodies will stick to the antigens, which these antigens are bonding agents for the entire test. A solution is used to wash away everything in it except for the antigens, or also the antibodies that are sticking to the antigens.

Enzyme solutions would then be applied to the sample to determine if the color changes accordingly whether there it is a positive or negative result. Although there is a possibility for the test samples to return a false positive. This is when the sample of the patient does not have the infection but returns with a positive result. But regardless, ELISA tests are still considered the most reliable in the immunology community.




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