Oxford Biomedical Research is known for producing assays that are reproducible and reliable. However, your results are only as good as the samples you start with. Care should be taken when planning your experiments with regard to collection, protection, storage and processing. Here are some of the common points to consider:
Isoprostane: In serum, plasma ans tissues, isoprostane can continue to be generated. To obtain the best results at the time of collection, we recommend adding 20 uM BHT and 14 uM indomethacin as a way of protecting the sample. Samples should be frozen as soon as possible and stored at -80°C. Samples intended for the EA84 assay kit should be extracted. Urine samples can be assayed with the EA85 kit without extraction.
GSH/GSSG: When measuring GSH:GSSG ratios it is important to prevent additional GSSG formation after collection. Our GT35 and GT40 assay kits provide a thiol scavanger that should be added as soon as possible after collection. Store samples at -80°C.
Eicosanoids and hormones: Samples should be stored frozen and should be extracted prior to analysis. While results can be obtained without extraction reproducibility and reliabilty are lost.
Total Antioxidant Power: This assay relies on a copper reduction to measure antioxidant capacity. All metal chelators should be avoided including EDTA. Blood samples should be collected using sodium citrate instead of EDTA.