A woman uses a home pregnancy test kit that tests for hCG hormone in urine. She knows this is a type of antibody assay from the kit brochure. Antibodies reacting with the hormone produce two lines on the test strip. What specific type of antibody assay does this represent? A) a direct immunofluoresence test B) an immunochromatographic assay C) a complement fixation test D) an ELISA E) a neutralization assay
Biology · High School · Wed Jan 13 2021
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The correct answer is B : immunochromatographic assay.
The use of antibodies against hCG is what defines this test as an immune assay. However, this does not use fluorescent marker, and would not be immunofluorescence.
The compliment fixation test does not use antibodies as the assay; it is designed to test for the presence of anitbodies in serum. This is not a compliment function test.
The pregnancy test utilizes antibodies, that when bound to hCG will precipitate a visible line. This is a immunochromatographic assay (the chromatin creates the line).
An ELISA is a type of immune assay, specifically Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. It does involve an antibody binding to a target protein, but involves more steps. An ELISA involves more amplification and quantificaiton steps, which are not involved in a pregnancy test.