The Elisa Kit - A Powerful Tool For Modern Science

By Author: Groshan Fabiola
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ELISA is short for Enzyme Linked Immuno Sorbent, and up until now the ELISA kit is the safest and fastest way of diagnosing various types of infectious diseases in humans. The ELISA kit, in one of its many forms, can also be used to diagnose various diseases in plants and animals also. The ELISA test can be viewed much like the pregnancy test, because it works pretty much in the same way. The most common use for the ELISA kit is detecting antibodies and antigens in samples, in the field of immunology. Apart from using the ELISA kit to run toxicology tests which quickly reveal the presence or absence of certain drugs.

Another field in which using the ELISA kit has become increasingly important is the food industry. Industry professionals make use of the ELISA kit in searching for various elements that should not appear in certain products. For example, milk, walnuts, peanuts, eggs, and other similar ingredients make provoke allergic reactions, and in order to test a product which advertises not using one or more of these ingredients, testing is done with the help of the ELISA kit. Aside from being used in the food industry ...
... and law enforcement or competitions, the ELISA kit is widely known for being used for the detection of HIV, and other viruses. One of the greatest advantages to using the ELISA kit, aside from the accurate results, is the low price for this product. The financial aspect along with the short testing period have led the ELISA kit to becoming one of the most used testing methods throughout the world. Regardless if used in diagnostics, plant pathology or products quality control, the Elisa kit works in the same way.

When performing ELISA kit testing antigen is spread onto a surface. In the next stage, an antibody, specific for that test, is presented to the antigen resulting in a bind between the two compounds. The final steps are linking that antibody to an enzyme and ultimately adding a revealing solution that that helps the enzyme to convert to a visible signal. This readable signal will reveal the exact quantity of antigen in that specific sample. Because the ELISA kit test reveals the presence of antibodies and antigen, and so it can be used to determine the exact concentration of serum antibody, it has become one of the most important tools in the correct detection and diagnostic of the HIV virus, and other viruses also, such as the West Nile virus. The high sensitivity presented by the ELISA kit test was often compared to that offered by examinations carried out with the use of the microscope.

ELISA kits are used to both diagnose and monitor infectious diseases such as West Nile Virus or HIV. The accuracy of ELISA kits and their short time of response are their strongest selling points. ELISA kits are also highly sensitive to specific antibodies, and provide analytical systems capable of detecting very low levels of chemicals. The high sensitivity of ELISA kits is due to the powerful catalytic ability of enzymes. ELISA methods are also highly selective due to the extraordinary discriminatory capabilities of antibodies. Concentration as low as parts per billion (ppb) can be detected. Moreover, an ELISA kit is very simple to use and the results are easy to understand.

Commercial uses of the ELISA kits are in high demand. Over-the-counter pregnancy tests make use of this principle by using monoclonal antibodies directed to protein samples in urine. To monitor diabetes, glucose levels can be determined using a mediator molecule to interface biological and electronic components of a sensor which results in a current reading. Antibiotic residues in milk may be detected using an ELISA kits which monitors the inhibition of a test organism's growth. ELISA kits are also used in food safety by indicating the presence of salmonella. This test is used to predict salmonella carrier status in cattle. ELISA kits have an enormous impact on today's medicine.

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