Introduction Fibronectin (FN) is a major component of the extracellular matrix and blood plasma and is a specific ligand for several integrin adhesion receptors (1). FN plays an important role not only in cell adhesion (2) and wound healing (3), but also in embryogenesis (4) and hematopoiesis (5). FN is over-expressed in cardiovascular disease states such as atherosclerosis (6) and myocardial infarction (7). Reduced levels of FN have been reported in patients with Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation (DIC) and low concentrations appear to correlate with a poor prognosis (8).
Principle of the Assay The AssayMax Mouse Fibronectin ELISA kit is designed for detection of mouse fibronectin in plasma, serum, urine and cell culture supernatants. This assay employs a quantitative sandwich enzyme immunoassay technique that measures fibronectin in less than 4 hours. A polyclonal antibody specific for fibronectin has been pre-coated onto a microplate. Fibronectin in standards and samples is sandwiched by the immobilized antibody and biotinylated polyclonal antibody specific for fibronectin, which is recognized by a streptavidin-peroxidase conjugate. All unbound material is then washed away and a peroxidase enzyme substrate is added. The color development is stopped and the intensity of the color is measured.