There are a wide range of drugtest strips available for many different applicati

Question

There are a wide range of drugtest strips available for many different applications, and such test have been recently introduced by Victoria Police to test to see if drivers have been taking drugs and driving. Equally there are a lot of simple assays using strips to test for compounds like cholesterol. Choose a test for a particular drug or biomarker (there are test strips for amphetamine, marijuana, cocaine, cholesterol etc), and explain how the strip works. Your answer should include:

a)      Are other ancillary devices required to analyse the strip? Explain.

b)      How is the test undertaken?

c)      Is the method invasive?

d)      What are the limitations of this method?

Explanation / Answer

Strip test for cocaine is based on the priciple of competitive inhibition immuno assay. Strips contain the drug in bound form, which may be react with the drug in urine if it is present. In this case, urine sample is collected, and test strip is immersed at one end (opposite to blue end) into the sample and take back after 3 to 5 sec. Appearance of two different pink colour bands indicates the test is negative, if only one pink band is present, this indicates that the test is positive. Results after 15 mins must not be considered.

a). No ancillary devices are needed to analyse the strip, the results can be read visually.

b). The test is done by taking urine sample. No pretreatment is needed, sample can be stored for 2 days aat 2 to 8 degree centigrade. The sample is tested as described above.

c). No, the method is non invasive.

d). Limitations of this method include,

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