
When testing for intestinal inflammation the best sample to use is stool, as this has been in contact with the with the walls of the intestine throughout its journey and so will have collected any calprotectin that they be present. The challenge is to get the calprotectin from the stool sample into a format where it can be tested by the various assays. Weighing the sample is still considered the Gold-Standard practice for calprotectin extraction. You can read more about the weighing extraction procedure here.
The BÜHLMANN fCAL assays all use the same buffer to extract and stabilise the protein – this can either be performed using traditional manual weighing techniques, or with the assistance of extraction devices to make the process simpler and quicker e.g. The Smart-Prep device or the CALEX®.
The extraction method of choice for the BÜHLMANN fCAL assay is the CALEX®.