Folic Acid ELISA

Enzyme Immunoassay for the quantitative determination of Folic Acid in food.

Background: Folates play an important role in the synthesis of nucleic acids and some amino acids and gained recently increased interest because they belong to the group of antioxidative vitamins. In the last years the influence of folic acid supplementation to avoid abortion and dysraphism was a topic of research increasingly. Folic acid as the most stable representative of the group of folates is added to a broad range of food.
Traditional methods are mostly microbiological ones, but also TLC and HPLC are applied. These methods are time consuming and need complex equipment.
This test kit allows the detection (2.5 to 4 hrs. incl. sample preparation) of folic acid in supplemented food which is more rapid compared to traditional techniques (24-48 hrs).

Description: The Folic Acid quantitative test is based on the principle of the enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. A folic acid conjugate is bound on the surface of a microtiter plate. Folic acid containing samples or standards and an antibody directed against folic acid are given into the wells of the microtiter plate. Immobilized and free folic acid compete for the antibody binding sites. After one hour incubation at room temperature, the wells are washed with diluted washing solution to remove unbound material. A peroxidase conjugate against the antibody is given into the wells and after another hour incubation, the plate is washed again. Then a substrate solution is added and incubated for 20 minutes, resulting in the development of a blue colour. The colour development is inhibited by the addition of a stop solution, and the colour turns yellow. The yellow colour is measured photometrically at 450 nm. The concentration of folic acid is indirectly proportional to the colour intensity of the test sample.

Product Features:
- The kit contains reagents for 96 determinations;
- Microtiter plate consisting of 12 strips with 8 breakable wells;
- Folic Acid Standards: 0, 4, 10, 40, 100, 400 ng/mL;
- ELISA reader at 450 nm;
- Standard range: 4 - 400 ng/mL;
- Sensitivity analytical: 2 ng/mL.