Question

Description

The Home pregnancy test strips are classified under “Rapid immunological tests”; the strips are a form of a solid phase immunoassay. It follows the basic immunological principles of binding of an antigen to an antibody.

Instructions

Describe what an immunoassay is. Describe how this strip works. Describe what the antigen in this test is, and how this antigen binds only to its antibody and nothing else. What is the region of an antigen that reacts with an antibody called? What happens during the test? There are two lines on the strip-what do these two lines indicate, and what does the change in color of the control line validate? Sometimes, using this test too early in the pregnancy will not yield an accurate test result. Why would this be? What is the earliest point in pregnancy that such a test can be used reliably? Rapid tests have a shelf life leading to inaccuracies past the “use by” date. What would be the reason for this “use by” limit? Which the materials could cause inaccurate results?

Answer 1

Immunoassay is a procedure for detecting or measuring specific proteins or other substances through their properties as antigens or antibodies. Home pregnancy test is a home-use test kit to measure human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) in your urine. You produce this hormone only when you are pregnant.hCG is a hormone produced by your placenta when you are pregnant. It appears shortly after the embryo attaches to the wall of the uterus. If you are pregnant, this hormone increases very rapidly. If you have a 28 day menstrual cycle, you can detect hCG in your urine 12-15 days after ovulation. Home pregnancy test is a qualitative test you find out whether or not you have elevated hCG levels indicating that you are pregnant.The accuracy of this test depends on how well you follow the instructions and interpret the results. If you mishandle or misunderstand the test kit, you may get poor results.pregnancy tests have about the same ability to detect hCG, but their ability to show whether or not you are pregnant depends on how much hCG you are producing. If you test too early in your cycle or too close to the time you became pregnant, your placenta may not have had enough time to produce hCG. This would mean that you are pregnant but you got a negative test result.

how to perform test: For home pregnancy tests, you either hold a test strip in your urine stream or you collect your urine in a cup and dip your test strip into the cup. If you are pregnant, most test strips produce a colored line, but this will depend on the brand you purchased. Read the instructions for the test you bought and follow them carefully. Make sure you know how to get good results. The test usually takes only about 5 minutes.You can improve your chances for an accurate result by using your first morning urine for the test. If you are pregnant, it will have more hCG in it than later urines. If you think you are pregnant, but your first test was negative, you can take the test again after several days. Since the amount of hCG increases rapidly when you are pregnant, you may get a positive test on later days. Some test kits come with more than one test in them to allow you to repeat the test.

Expired pregnancy test kit :it’s possible to get a false-positive result with an expired pregnancy test, especially if the test has been exposed to heat or moisture. A false-positive is when you get a positive result, but you’re not actually pregnant. Expired pregnancy test will not bind to HCg hormone that is antibody is not very specific anymore< and sicne antibody is a protein it have its life. Antibody may get denatured on prolonged incubation at higher temperature than recommended.