PMSG ELISA

>Background:Pregnant Mare Serum Gonadotropin (PMSG) or equine chorionic gonadotropin (eCG) is a heterodimer composed of an alpha and beta subunit as for other pituitary gonadotropins, and is post-translationally glycosylated. The primary structure of the eCG chain is identical to the equine LH -chain but shows differential glycosylation in the carboxy terminal part resulting in a six fold increase in biological halftime. eCG is secreted by the endometrial cups of the uterus of pregnant mares. eCG can function as luteinizing hormone in the horse, albeit less robustly than eLH.The hormone is found in the blood of the pregnant mare between day 40 and 120 of gestation, reaching a peak approximately at day 60. eCG is not detectable or present at very low concentrations in the equine serum before day 37 and after day 150 of gestation. A number of factors have been shown to influence the concentration of eCG in mare’s blood between 40 and 120 days of gestation. These include maternal body condition, exercise, feeding, mare size, mare parity, intrinsic mare variability, paternity of the conceptus, fetal genotype, fetal gender, twin pregnancy, the degree of folding of the endometrium in the gravid uterine horn at the time of invasion of the chorionic girdle and the uterine environment. eCG concentrations are significantly higher in moderately rather than excessively fed mares. Furthermore, eCG concentrations are significantly higher in nonexercised than in exercised mares between days 60 and 90 of gestation. Measurement of PMSG can confirm pregnancy from day 41-97 of gestation. The PMSG ELISA as a means of pregnancy testing is a suitable and convenient method to confirm earlier ultrasound scanning techniques and allows the practitioner to obtain this information quickly and economically in the laboratory.

Description:
The PMSG ELISA is a solid phase enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) based on the sandwich principle. The microtiter wells are coated with a monoclonal antibody directed towards a unique antigenic site of the PMSG molecule. An aliquot of equine sample containing endogenous PMSG is incubated in the coated well together with Assay Buffer. After incubation, unbound components are washed off. Finally, Enzyme Conjugate, which is an anti-PMSG antibody conjugated with horseradish peroxidase. After incubation the unbound conjugate is washed off. The amount of bound peroxidase conjugate is proportional to the concentration of PMSG in the sample. Having added the substrate solution, the intensity of colour developed is proportional to the concentration of PMSG in the sample.

Product features:
The kit contains reagents for 96 determinations;
Microtiter plate consisting of 12x8 (breakapart);
Microtiter plate reader at 450/620 nm;
Limit of detection: 2.02 mIU/mL.