The reagent on-board stability of the specific enzyme, GHB dehydrogenase, is significantly improved now. The enzyme is stable for 8 weeks even at storage temperature up to 15°C which is used in several clinical chemistry analyzers.

In the last few years the amount of seizures of GHB (gamma-hydroxybutyric acid) continuously increased. Besides the well described misuse as a date rape drug, GHB is more and more abused as a recreational/party drug.

This new assay attribute further support the implementation of the enzymatic GHB assay from BÜHLMANN as an important screening tool allowing the automated, easy and uncomplicated testing of suspected specimens. Screening tests can be offered 7/24 on any clinical chemistry analyzer without highly sophisticated knowhow and lab equipment.

This Improvement allows less re-calibration steps and gives a higher flexibility to you to fit it into your specific workload. Now you get the option to minimize the amount of the reagent dead volume to optimize the economic output. The new formulation of the enzyme shows highest comparability of the assay performance with the positive effect that less false positive screening results will occur.

Today, reliable quantitation of vitamin status of a patient is done mainly with classical HPLC methods asking for time consuming and cumbersome sample precipitation and derivatization with highly toxic agents.

The new enzymatic vitamin B6 assay from BÜHLMANN offers highly comparable results with the advantage of batch-wise sample measurements within 45 minutes.

The assay employs a three reagent protocol and will be run on microtiter plates with the option of automation. A simple sample dilution step of the collected EDTA plasma is required before starting the assay.

Large surveys in the US (NHANES) showed that even in sections of population using regularly nutritional supplements a significant part shows low plasma PLP (vitamin B6) concentrations.

Low vitamin B6 status is associated with a large amount of very different diseases including cardiovascular disease, cancer, cognitive function, premenstrual syndrome etc.

Identified risk groups are individuals with impaired renal function, autoimmune disorders including rheumatoid arthritis, malabsorbtive diseases like celiac disease, crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis and people with alcohol dependence. Furthermore, sever interactions with medications are known for people using Cycloserine (tuberculosis antibiotic), antiepileptic medications like valproic acid and carbamacepin, and Theophylline used for treatment of asthmatic diseases.

The EntroGen BRAF (V600E/K/D) test is a very useful tool for the detection of important mutations found in melanoma, because it detects, beside the V600E mutation, also the V600K and the V600D mutations. The test kit contains 64 reactions and it can be run on all real-time PCR instruments capable of detecting FAM and VIC fluorescent probes.

More information about the new EntroGen BRAF test can be found here.