Thermo Kit Benz Serum Tox

Specifications

Description: Serum Toxicology Benzodiazepine

Detectable Analytes: Benzodiazepine in serum - screening test

Quantity: 25, 8mL

Storage Requirements: 2° to 8°C

Intended Use

The DRI® Benzodiazepine Serum Tox Assay is intended for the qualitative and semiquantitative determination of benzodiazepines in human serum or plasma with a 50 ng/mL cutoff.

Summary and Explanation of the Test

Benzodiazepines are sedative-hypnotic drugs which are subject to abuse. Benzodiazepines include a wide variety of structurally similar drugs such as alprazolam, chlordiazepoxide, diazepam, lorazepam, oxazepam and triazolam. Therapeutic serum concentrations and toxic levels for each benzodiazepine are different. In addition, patients who have used benzodiazepines habitually, particularly those who are addicted to such agents, may tolerate far larger dosages than persons who are not habitual users. Because of the wide variations in individual tolerance and variation in toxic levels associated with each benzodiazepine, serum tox immunoassays are primarily useful to establish the presence of the agent. An alternative chemical method should be used to determine the identity and exact concentration of the specific benzodiazepine. Being able to determine the type of benzodiazepine ingested will facilitate an effective course of treatment for benzodiazepine intoxication. Although detection of benzodiazepines in urine can be used as an indicator of benzodiazepine use, the DRI Benzodiazepine Serum Tox Assay is critical in emergency situations where a urine sample may be difficult to obtain.

Many conventional techniques, such as TLC, GC, GLC and HPLC, are available for testing abused drugs in biological fluids. Immunoassays, based on the specific recognition of abused drugs by the corresponding antibody, have become available for high volume screening applications. DRI Benzodiazepine Serum Tox Assay is a homogeneous enzyme immunoassay using readyto-use liquid reagents. The assay uses specific antibodies that detect most benzodiazepines and their metabolites in serum. It is based on the competition of a drug labeled with enzymes, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PDH), with the drug from the sample for a fixed amount of specific antibody binding sites. In the absence of the drug from the sample, the drug labeled with G6PDH is bound by the specific antibody and the enzyme activity is inhibited. In the presence of drug from the sample, the drug occupies the antibody binding sites, and leaves the drug labeled G6PDH free and active. This phenomenon creates a direct relationship between drug concentration in the sample and the enzyme activity. The enzyme G6PDH activity is determined spectrophotometrically at 340 nm by measuring its ability to convert nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) to NADH.