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 general, ELISA is also used for tests in illegal drug use. It also helps determine the allergic reactions towards food for a person. It is widely used as a tool in plant pathology, and also in quality control check in some industries. How to determine this is through the intensity of the color change of each sample of the patient.

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.

Blood is the usual collection, as well as urine samples. These samples are then placed in a test tube or test slide, and then sent to the laboratory for the testing and analysis. At the laboratory, it will be tested if the targeted antigen or antibody is present within the blood or urine.

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.

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.

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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