Description
The Anti-Borrelia IgG Line Immunoasssay / Anti-Borrelia IgM Line Immunoasssay is an in vitro diagnostic device (Line immunoassay, LIA) for the detection of specific IgG or IgM antibodies against Borrelia burgdorferi in human serum or plasma samples. It should be used as a confirmatory test after a positive ELISA result.
The antigens are plotted on nitrocellulose membranes and blocked to avoid unspecific reactions. After this procedure the membrane is cut into strips. The reaction for detection of antigen specific antibodies is performed in 3 steps:
Step 1
The test strips are incubated in the diluted (1:101) serum or plasma samples for 45 minutes. Specific antibodies present in the samples react with the membrane bound antigens during that time. After incubation unbound proteins are removed by 3 washing cycles.
Step 2
The second incubation starts with the addition of enzyme labelled, isotype specific conjugate antibodies to the nitrocellulose strips. After 45 minutes of incubation unbound conjugate is removed by 3 washing cycles.
Step 3
The addition of the colourless precipitating substrate stains the membrane bound immune complexes by formation of blue precipitates. The reaction is stopped after 10 minutes by aspirating the substrate followed by rinsing the strips with sufficient quantity of distilled or deionized water. After drying the strips, interpretation of the resulting pattern is done by
comparison with the specific template. Alternatively the strips can be evaluated with an Evaluation Software for Line Immunoassays (available upon request).
