What is Calcium Assay and How Does it Work?
Calcium is a vital nutrient for bones and teeth. It is found in dairy products and can be obtained from food supplements.The best way to ensure that calcium is properly absorbed by your body is to eat foods rich in calcium. While some dietary supplements contain artificial ingredients that can interfere with the absorption of calcium, dietary sources are safe and effective. For example, a multivitamin/mineral supplement with vitamin D is a good idea. Calcium is essential for bones, nerves, and muscles. It is stored in the blood, the muscles, and between cells. It also helps the body secrete hormones and enzymes, and sends messages through the nervous system. Therefore, calcium-enriched food is very important for a healthy body. You should eat breakfast cereals with calcium and fruit juices, so that you can get all the benefits from calcium. However, you should not overdo it with too much calcium.
What is a Calcium Assay?
The calcium assay kit is a chromogenic complex and measures free calcium in a sample. A chromogenic complex is a valuable tool for detecting calcium in cells. Such tests are ccritical for the understanding of cardiac function.
Calcium assay kits are used to measure levels of calcium in cells and biological samples. Calcium is biologically vital for our bodies and calcium ions are engaged in enzyme activity, cellular function, muscle contraction, and etc.
How Does It Work?
A calcium assay is performed by measuring the intracellular calcium flux in cells. In this case, the calcium assay is used to monitor the release of Ca2+ from the cell’s membrane. The release of Ca2+ from the cell’ s membrane occurs when an action potential arrives at the cell membrane. The signal depolarises the membrane, allowing the calcium to enter the cell. Once inside, the Calcium Assay activates Gq-protein coupled receptors and releases intracellular calmodulin.
A calcium assay can be performed with any sample and can be done in several ways. Some assays are suitable for cell-based high-throughput screening. If you’re testing the level of calcium in an organism, consider using an automated test. It will reduce your time-consuming manual labor and allow you to get more accurate results.
Choosing a Calcium Assay
When choosing a calcium assay, you need to choose a suitable microplate reader for your application. The ideal system will be robust, intuitive, and fit into your workflow. If you need to measure the concentration of calcium, you’ll need a sensitive and fast system. Luminescence assays are an excellent option for studies that need to be conducted quickly. These rely on an enzymatic or chemical reaction to produce light. They are also quick and convenient to use.
The colourimetric test method is a useful tool for the study of calcium, a mineral that plays a vital role in several physiological and biochemical processes It is an easy to use kit that can measure the total amount of free crystalline calcium in biological samples. The kit comes with reagents for approximately 250 assays.
A cell-based calcium assay is a popular choice for scientists studying intracellular calcium levels. Its effects on GPCR activation and cell damage are key indicators of calcium levels. It is also a common target for drug development. The GPCRs are important drugs and are involved in diverse physiological processes. The intracellular calcium assays used to monitor these processes can be adapted to the instruments and instrumentation of different laboratories. Also, a no-wash calcium dye kit is an excellent choice if you want to test calcium in a 96-well plate. No-wash phosphoric acid-based assay kit eliminates the need for a cell wash after loading the dye. It allows researchers to perform an addition-only calcium assay and doesn’t change the pharmacology of agonists and antagonists.
AM ester conjugated calcium indicators are the best choice for extracellular assays. They passively diffuse across intact plasma membranes, but do not penetrate cell membranes. Salt-conjugated calcium indicators need to be loaded into cells by disrupting their function. However, pinocytic loading agents are available for intracellular calcium assays. There are numerous advantages to using a commercial calcium assay.