Basic Knowledge On Thyroid ELISA Kits

By Jocelyn Davidson


Enzyme linked Immunosorbent Assay is a process in medical diagnostics where specific protein molecules are calibrated or if they are present in a given sample. This is mainly used in figuring out if there is any disease or innate conditions in a person to adhere adequate medication as soon as possible.

HIV tests are one of the many examples of ELISA. It detects antibodies which are connected to the virus that are inside the blood of the patient. As for thyroid glands, Thyroid ELISA kits are used in most laboratories for further studying the present protein molecules. With this, other various kits are existent depending on what use they are.

Finding out if you have any specific food allergy is also done using this test. It may be used for testing if a patient is using illegal drugs. Generally, it is a tool for plant pathology and quality control check for certain industries. The calibration or reading is through how vibrant the color is and its changes after each sample is tested.

Two types of ELISA tests are widely used in laboratories. The first one is indirect which detects the antibodies in a given sample. An example for indirect is HIV testing, where it detects the antibodies in the sample which are against the virus. The second one is called capture or sandwich. It detects the antigens and then capture them between two antibodies. A good sample for this would be on pregnancy tests which detects the hCG or the human chorionic gonadotropin.

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.

As for human blood, it is made up of plasma, red cells, and white blood cells. What is needed for the tests are blood serum. It is plasma that is stripped off with the clotting behaviour through centrifuge which spins the samples in high speed to separate the blood in different parts. The cells would be on the bottom while the serum stays on top.

One common enzyme used for detection is the Horseradish Peroxidase. It separates the Ortho Phenylenediamine Dihydrochloride from Tetramethylbenzidine. The resulting color would be yellow which can be measured also for its optical density using a plate reader. Through light absorbance, OPD is measured in a wavelength of 490 nanometers and TMB is measured at 450 nanometers.

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.

To get results through color changes, enzyme solutions would be added to the samples to get either a positive or a negative result. But there is a certain possibility for the test results to give a false positive. A false positive is when a sample has no infection or whatever but still gives a positive result. Even so, ELISA tests are reliable and considered to be a standard in the immunology community.




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