Immunochemical Information and Courses from MediaLab, Inc.
These are the MediaLab courses that cover Immunochemical and links to relevant pages within the course.
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| Types of Electrophoresis There are numerous applications of electrophoresis. Routine protein electrophoresis performed in clinical laboratories is the oldest method and therefore the most frequently used method. With the advent of molecular diagnostics, several other electrophoresis methods have become very important, highly automated, and have several important applications.Types of electrophoresis that will be discussed are Routine electrophoresis High resolution electrophoresis Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis Capillary electrophoresis Isoelectric focusing Immunochemical electrophoresis Two-dimensional electrophoresis Pulsed field electrophoresis | View Page |
| Immunochemical Electrophoresis There are several immunochemical electrophoresis methods used to investigate protein antigens and antibodies in serum. Two methods will be discussed: Immunofixation electrophoresis (IFE) Electroimmunoassay electrophoresis | View Page |
| Transferrin and Total Iron Binding Capacity The test for transferrin (Tf) measures the concentration of the primary carrier protein for iron. Measuring total iron binding capacity (TIBC) is an indirect method of assessing transferrin and provides comparable information. The TIBC (or transferrin) are typically performed along with the SI. Taken together, these determinations are useful in the differential diagnosis of many disorders affecting iron metabolism, including hereditary hemochromatosis (HH) and iron deficiency anemia. Tf and TIBC are typically low-normal or decreased in HH and are increased in iron deficiency. Serum transferrin can be measured directly using immunochemical methods such as nephelometry and turbidimetry. TIBC is performed in a 2-step method by adding ferric iron to the specimen in sufficient quantity to completely fill all of the iron binding sites on transferrin. Excess, unbound iron is removed by adsorption with magnesium carbonate, alumina, or ion resin. The iron content of the saturated binding protein is then measured as described for SI. Serum is the specimen of choice for Tf and TIBC. TIBC is less subject than SI to day-to-day variation and other causes of variability.A typical reference interval for TIBC is 300 - 360 micrograms/dL.(2) | View Page |
| Serum Ferritin Serum ferritin (SF) level reflects the amount of storage iron in tissues. An elevated SF combined with elevated TS implies primary iron overload. Patients with hereditary hemochromatosis (HH) generally show increases in SF as adults, but a normal SF does not rule out the diagnosis of the disease. Children and premenopausal females with HFE mutations may have had inadequate time to develop iron overload, but may do so later in life.SF alone is inadequate as the sole screening test for HH because it lacks the necessary sensitivity and specificity. SF is frequently elevated in persons with inflammation, cancer, or infection. SF is often ordered along with the serum iron and TIBC when iron overload is suspected. SF is also important is assessing the efficacy of treatment of HH.Upper limits of reference intervals for SF are 200 ng/mL for premenopausal women and 300 ng/mL for men and postmenopausal women. 40 ng/mL is a typical lower limit for the reference interval.SF is measured in serum using immunochemical methods such as enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), immunoradiometric assay, immunochemiluminescent assay, and immunofluorometry. SF tests are available as automated assays and in kit form.(2) | View Page |