Medical Supplies

Am Eichenhain 1
48531 Nordhorn
Germany

Phone: (+49-5921)72728101
Fax: (+49-5921)72728188
http://www.ldn.de
manz@ldn.de

Company Figures
Number of employees 20-49
Sales volume 1-9 Mio US $
Export content > 75%
Year of foundation 1996
Area of business Diagnostics

Services and Publications

Language: German Language: English Company Profile

About LDN

LDN was established in 1996 with a vision of developing and marketing high quality in vitro diagnostics. This vision, combined with the more than 40 years of experience of our partner organisation Labor Centrum Nordhorn (reference laboratory) and exclusive dedication to immunodiagnostics, has made LDN one of the worldwide leaders in biogenic amine analysis.

Why Choose LDN?
Private Ownership - LDN is privately owned, making our customers our number one priority. As such, we adapt more rapidly to industry changes, thereby providing our customers with the best possible products and service.

We guarantee a 24-hour turnaround time on most all technical inquiries.

Quality and Reliability - LDN has developed an extensive internal Quality Assurance program and our facilities are ISO 9001-2000 and 13485 Certified.

Our Mission Statement
LDN Labor Diagnostika Nord is dedicated to exceeding our customers’ expectations in terms of the quality of the products and services we provide.
LDN´s mission is to:

Maintain a quality system that meets the DIN ISO 9001-2000 Certification Standards
Dedicate ourselves to a strategy of continuous improvement
Constantly seek to understand the expectations of our customers and strive to exceed those expectations at every juncture
Ensure that all LDN employees thoroughly understand and adhere to the spirit and the letter of the company’s quality policy, as well as the directives of the Quality Manual and its subordinate documents
Product Information
03.01.14 Rapid tests - clinical chemistry
Catecholamine Immunoassays 05.11.2007

Adrenaline (epinephrine) and noradrenaline (norepinephrine) together with dopamine constitute the group of catecholamines, which play an important role as hormones and neurotransmitters. Catecholamines are biogenic amines which are synthesized from the amino acid tyrosine via the intermediate product dopa.

After they have exerted their effects, adrenaline and noradrenaline are broken down via the intermediate products metanephrine and normetanephrine to the end product of metabolism vanillylmandelic acid and excreted in urine. Therefore urine as well as plasma is used as a test material for determining catecholamine concentrations.

Catecholamines are synthesized predominantly in the adrenal medulla and in the nerve ends of the sympthetic nerve system. Here they are stored in granula and released following a specific stimulus. The catecholamines then exert their effects by binding to specific membrane receptors on the target cells. Afterwards, they are broken down rapidly by various enzymes. The main role of catecholamines is to help the body adapt to acute and chronic stress. Adrenaline affects mainly the heart muscles and metabolism, while noradrenaline acts as a vasoconstrictor on the peripheral arteries. A special application for determination of catecholamine concentrations in the body lies in the area of stress research and sports medicine.

Diseases which are associated with altered levels of catecholamines include hypertonia, degenerative heart diseases, schizophrenia, manic-depressive disorders, and catecholamine- producing tumours (neuroblastoma, ganglioneuroma, and phaeochromocytoma). Of these, phaeochromocytoma has the greatest significance. Phaeochromocytomas are excessively catecholamine-secreting tumors, which originate in the adrenal medula and can, in combination with operative procedures and anaesthesia, lead to life-threatening situations. Around 10% of all phaeochromocytomas show malignant growth. In most cases, however, they can be cured by operative therapy combined with medication therapy using ß-adrenergen antagonists. An unidentified phaeochromocytoma on the other hand poses a serious risk to the patient.

The determination of adrenaline and noradrenaline concentrations is therefore essential in patients with suspected phaeochromocytoma. These tests are also frequently used in the initial diagnosis of hypertonia.
The measurement of dopamine and its derivatives is of special diagnostic value with children who are suspected to have a neuroblastoma. Adrenaline, noradrenaline and dopamine are extracted using a cis-diolspecific affinity gel and acylated to N-acyladrenaline, N-acylnoradrenaline and N-acyldopamine and then converted enzymatically during the detection procedure into N-acylmetanephrine, N-acylnormetanephrine and N-acyl-3-methoxytyramine.

RIA- The assay procedure follows the basic principle of radioimmunoassays, involving competition between a radioactive and a non-radioactive antigen for a fixed number of antibody binding sites. The amount of 125I-labeled antigen bound to the antibody is inversely proportional to the analyte concentration of the sample. When the system is in equilibrium, the antibody bound radioactivity is precipitated with a second antibody in the presence of polyethylene glycol. The precipitate is counted in a gamma counter. Quantification of unknown samples is achieved by comparing their activity with a reference curve prepared with known standards.

ELISA- The competitive EIA kit uses the microtiter plate format. Adrenaline, noradrenaline and dopamine, respectively, are bound to the solid phase of the microtiter plate. Acylated catecholamines from the sample and solid phase bound catecholamines compete for a fixed number of antiserum binding sites. When the system is in equilibrium, free antigen and free antigen-antiserum complexes are removed by washing. The antibody bound to the solid phase catecholamine is detected by an anti-rabbit IgG-peroxidase conjugate using TMB as a substrate. The reaction is monitored at 450 nm with the amount of antibody bound to the solid phase catecholamine being inversely proportional to the catecholamine concentration of the sample.

03.02.07 Immuno assay systems

03.02.07.03 Biogene amines

03.02.07.06 Enzyme immunoassay (EIA, ELISA, EMIT)

03.02.07.15 Luminescence immunoassay (LIA, SPALT)

03.02.07.21 Radioimmunoassay (RIA)

10.01 Reports and analyses

10.01.03 Evaluations