Assay

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This article is about the the analysis and testing of the properties of a biochemical substance. For the analysis of metals, see metallurgical assay. For the commune in the Indre-et-Loire, see Assay, Indre-et-Loire.
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An assay is a procedure in molecular biology for testing and/or measuring the activity of a drug or biochemical in an organism or organic sample.[1][2] A quantitative assay may also measure the amount of a substance in a sample. Bioassays and immunoassays are among the many varieties of specialized biochemical assays. Other assays measure such processes as enzyme activity, antigen capture, stem cell activity, and competitive protein binding.

Contents

[edit] Assay varieties

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[edit] Cytotoxicity

A cytotoxicity assay measures how toxic a chemical compound is to cells.

[edit] DNA

Assays for studying interactions of proteins with DNA include:

[edit] Protein

[edit] RNA

[edit] Cell counting

A cell-counting assay, may determine the number of living cells, the number of dead cells, or the ratio of one cell type to another. One example of a cell-counting assay is a blood cell count.

[edit] Petrochemistry

[edit] Virology

The HPCE-based viral titer assay uses a proprietary, high-performance capillary electrophoresis system to determine baculovirus titer.

The Trofile assay is used to determine HIV tropism.

One may use a viral plaque assay to calculate the number of viruses present in a sample. This technique requires counting the number of plaques formed by a virus sample, from which the actual virus concentration can be determined.

[edit] Cellular secretions

A wide range of cellular secretions (say, a specific antibody or cytokine) can be detected using the ELISA technique. The number of cells which secrete those particular substances can be determined using a related technique, the ELISPOT assay.

[edit] Drugs

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company: 2000.
  2. ^ McKean, Erin (ed.). The New Oxford American Dictionary. Second edition. Oxford University Press: 2005.
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