Hello,
i am writing a theoretical research proposal for one of my university assignments regarding Covid-19.
The brief is pretty relaxed and i have chosen to conduct a study on how the neurological manifestations caused by Covid-19 may be linked to early onset Parkinson's disease.
In the study i want to measure the levels of IL-6, IL-10, TMPRSS2 in Covid-19 positive hospitalised patients over the course of the year however i'm finding it quite difficult to find an accurate way to do this. I've done a lot of research and i am leaning towards using plasma samples and ELISA kits however i've read this can be quite unreliable and inaccurate.
So, do you think plasma samples will be the best way to measure or should i use serum or tissue ?
And is ELISA the best kit to use or is there another method which may pick up the cytokine levels more accurately.
ps. sorry for the long message and if this may be rather confusing i'm still trying to understand everything :)
Article Measurement of Circulating Cytokines and Immune-Activation M...
Article Measurement of Circulating Cytokines and Immune-Activation M...
One can use both: plasma or serum to measure the cytokines in blood. There are many commercially available products that can be purchased. Before you decide on one or the other, you should answer following questions:
1. Do you have the equipment to perform experiments? If yes, stick to the system you have but if not then you need to find a collaborator to perform the tests. Perhaps using hospital routine diagnostic lab would be a solution. Ask them for cost estimate.
2. Do you need to use the ivd (in vitro diagnostics) certified knits? If yes then your costs might be substantially higher. If not then there are plenty of reagents on the market that you could buy for a fraction of the ivd price.
3. If you decide to do the experiments on your own then my advice is to practice first and then use the real samples.
4. If doing experiments on your own, then you need to gain an access to a proper level lab i- you will be working with potentially infectious samples.
As you can see there are some issues that need to be addressed before.
Good luck with the planning!
Hi every one,
Thank you for your help.
I've done some more research and have decided to measure IL-6 levels and TMPRSS2 using separate procedures while also using fMRI scans to track blood flow and oxygen levels to detect any brain activity reduction. Speaking with my professor, I realised its more of a comparative theoretical proposal where I'm needed to suggest multiple methods of carrying out the procedures and comparing each one.
Thank you again.
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