Total Protein Thiol Assay Kit (Colorimetric)

Total Protein Thiol Assay Kit (Colorimetric) (ab219272) provides an accurate method to quantify free thiol groups in proteins. The assay uses our proprietary thiol sensor, Thiol Blue, which has the maximum absorbance at OD 680 nm. Thiol Blue reacts with the protein samples that contain free thiol groups. The resulted thiol adduct is run through a single spin column to remove the excess Thiol Blue sensor, and the absorption spectrum of the purified product is measured. The amount of thiol to protein ratio is calculated from the absorbance ratio of 680 nm and 280 nm.

The assay can be performed in a traditional cuvette, Spectrophotometer or a convenient 96-well absorbance plate reader with a UV-transparent plate

It has been widely accepted that protein thiols are very important to protein structure, protein function and biological system redox environment. For example, albumin is the most abundant protein in plasma and the free thiol present in the albumin protein are considered as major plasma antioxidants in the body. The change of thiol status in albumin is related to a lot of diseases and disorders, such as kidney disease and Parkinson's disease. Although there are a few reagents or assay kits available for quantitating the total thiol content in biological systems, a key challenge is to have a rapid and accurate method to quantify the amount of free thiol group in a specific protein.