This ELISA kit provides quantitative measurement of interleukin-18 (IL-18) in rat samples, supporting immunological research into this key inflammasome-derived cytokine that bridges innate and adaptive immunity. Because IL-18 is cleaved and secreted in response to caspase-1 activation during inflammatory challenge, researchers need an assay capable of capturing its dynamic expression across both systemic and local tissue compartments.
Detection Range: The 12.5–800 pg/ml range spans the concentrations typically observed in rat serum and plasma under both basal and inflammatory conditions, including LPS challenge and ischemia-reperfusion models where IL-18 levels rise sharply. Most samples can be assayed neat or with minimal dilution, simplifying workflow.
Sensitivity: At 6.25 pg/ml, the kit detects IL-18 at the low constitutive levels present in unstimulated cell culture supernatants and in plasma from healthy control animals, ensuring meaningful baseline-to-induction comparisons.
Sample Compatibility: Validation across serum, plasma, cell culture supernatants, and tissue homogenates allows researchers to correlate circulating IL-18 with local production in target organs such as kidney, liver, or intestinal tissue — and to link in vivo findings with in vitro macrophage or dendritic cell stimulation experiments.
Assay Efficiency: The 1–5 hour protocol and 50–100 µl sample volume accommodate studies using primary rat peritoneal macrophages or limited biopsy-derived homogenates where material is constrained.
This kit is well suited for studies of NLRP3 inflammasome activation, acute kidney injury, and experimental autoimmune models in the rat.