INTRODUCTION:
Elevated serum urea levels may be due to pre-renal or post-renal etiologies. Pre-renal causes could be cardiac related or due to increased protein catabolism. Renal causes include glomerulonephritis, chronic nephritis, nephrotic syndromes and other kidney diseases. Post-renal causes include obstruction of the urinary tract. Urea kit incorporates liquid reagents for estimation of urea photometrically by the Berthelot method. This method offers a high degree of precision and specificity due to urease enzyme and high sensitivity due to high molar absorption of the final colour.
PRINCIPLE
Urease catalysis the conversion of Urea to ammonia and carbon-di-oxide. The ammonia released reacts with a mixture of salicylate, hypochlorite and nitroprusside to yield a bluegreen coloured compound (Indophenol). The intensity of colour produced is proportional to the concentration of urea in the sample and is measured photometrically at 578 nm or with yellow filter.
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