Differences Between Nucleic Acid and Antigen Preservation Solution for Covid-19

In the Covid-19 test, whether it is nucleic acid or antigen, the nasopharyngeal swab after sampling needs to be put into a storage tube with a preservation solution. Are the nucleic acid preservation solution and antigen preservation solution for Covid-19 the same thing?Can it be shared?

Nucleic acid testing

The target of the Covid-19 nucleic acid detection is the nucleic acid gene fragment inside the virus. Nucleic acid preservation solution is to protect viral nucleic acid from rapid degradation in vitro, so as to facilitate nucleic acid sequence amplification for detection purposes. The main components are balanced salts, chelating agents, guanidine salts, surfactants, etc.

Antigen detection

The target of the Covid-19 antigen test is the specific protein on the surface of the virus. The main components of the antigen preservation solution are low ionic strength buffers (such as Tris buffer, PBS buffer, etc.) and surfactants (such as Brij58, Triton X-100, etc.).

Viral nucleic acid preservation solution and antigen preservation solution

The main function of the antigen preservation solution is to protect the antigen protein from denaturation or decomposition, and it can react with the gold-labeled specific antibody on the detection test strip. The guanidine salt and other components in the nucleic acid preservation solution will denature the antigen protein, affect the antigen-antibody reaction, and cannot form the antigen-antibody complex, resulting in false negative or invalid results. Therefore, the preservation solution of new coronavirus nucleic acid and antigen cannot be shared.

Preservation solutions from different manufacturers cannot be mixed

To sum up, nucleic acid detection preservation solution and antigen detection preservation solution are not the same thing. In addition, the antigen preservation solutions of different manufacturers cannot be mixed, and the components of different brands of products are quite different, and the performance (specificity and sensitivity) of the antigen detection reagents of each manufacturer is related to the pH value of the supporting preservation solution. The specificity and sensitivity of the reagents are optimal when the pH for the antigen-antibody reaction of most chromatography methods is alkaline. When using a non-matching sample preservation solution, the pH value of the reaction environment will change, resulting in false positive or false negative results.

Desheng currently produces inactivated and non-inactivated viral nucleic acid preservation solutions. The daily shipment volume is as high as tens of tons. Generally, the customers who cooperate with us are repurchased stably for a long time, which fully shows that the quality is recognized by the public.No matter whether the customer's demand is large or small, Desheng will arrange production and delivery as soon as possible, even if it is a few tens of tons.If you need virus preservation solution or other blood collection tube reagents, please contact Desheng Company.