DHEA ELISA

Background:Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) is a steroid hormone that is produced in the adrenal glands. Together with its sulfate ester DHEA-S, it is quantitatively the main secretion product of the adrenal glands and serves as a precursor of androgenic and estrogenic steroids. DHEA and DHEA-S are in balance. The concentration of DHEA-S is about 1,000 times higher than of DHEA. The fetal adrenal gland produces large amounts of DHEA and DHEA-S during fetal development and decreases significantly in the first months of life. The adrenal secretion of DHEA and DHEA-S then increases again during the adrenal phase in children aged 6-8 years. Maximum levels of circulating DHEA-S and DHEA are reached between 20 and 30 years of age. After that, the levels of serum DHEA and DHEA-S decrease. The measurement of DHEA in serum is a useful marker of adrenal androgen synthesis. Elevated levels occur under various conditions, including 11β-hydroxylase and 3-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase deficiencies, and in some cases female hirsutism. Since very little DHEA is produced by the gonads, measurement of DHEA levels can help to locate the source of androgen under virilizing conditions. Abnormal DHEA levels have been reported in schizophrenia and obesity. Therapeutic administration of DHEA has been proposed for several conditions, including obesity and cardiovascular disease.

Description:
The DHEA ELISA Kit is a solid phase enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), based on the principle of competitive binding. The microtiter wells are coated with an anti DHEA antibody. An unknown amount of DHEA present in the sample competes with a DHEA-horseradish peroxidase conjugate for binding to the coated antibody. After incubation the unbound conjugate is washed off. The amount of bound peroxidase conjugate is inversely proportional to the concentration of DHEA in the sample. After addition of the substrate solution, the intensity of color developed is inversely proportional to the concentration of DHEA in the sample. A standard curve is constructed by plotting OD values against concentrations of standards, and concentrations of unknown samples are determined using this standard curve.

Product features:
The kit contains reagents for 96 determinations;
Microtiter plate consisting of 12x8 (break-apart) strips;
Microtiter plate reader at 450 nm;
Assay dynamic range: 0,3 - 30 ng/mL;
IVD