Exposure to Tobacco Smoke Detected by Cotinine Test

By LabMedica International staff writers
Posted on 06 Oct 2009
Exposure to tobacco smoke can be detected by a cotinine test, which indicates the quantity of nicotine metabolites in blood and other body fluids.

Cotinine has a longer half-life than nicotine, which is not used as a marker for tobacco smoke exposure. Cotinine has been found to be a reliable marker for smoking status and smoking cessation studies.

The Calbiotech (Spring Valley, CA, USA) cotinine blood test direct enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay (ELISA) kit has been developed for the detection of cotinine in serum and urine. It can also be adapted for other fluids.

The cotinine blood test kit is a solid phase competitive ELISA. The samples and cotinine enzyme conjugate are added to the wells coated with anticotinine antibody. Cotinine in the samples competes with a cotinine enzyme conjugate for binding sites. Unbound cotinine and cotinine enzyme conjugate is then washed off. The substrate is added and the intensity of color is inversely proportional to the concentration of cotinine in the samples.

Calbiotech is a provider of immunoassay products and services. The company offers ELISA, ultra-sensitive chemiluminescent ELISA (lumELISA), and radioimmunoassay (RIA) products, as well as preclinical testing services. The product line includes: endocrine, steroid, fertility, cancer, thyroid and cardiac, infectious disease, growth hormone, allergy, and drug of abuse markers.

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