testing for pregnancy

• Human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) is a hormone that is only found in the urine of pregnant women. This means you can test if a woman is pregnant by looking for hCG.
• Stick


  • Used with an application area that contains monoclonal antibodies for hCG bound to a coloured bead (blue)
• Monoclonal antibodies


  All identical to each other
• Pregnancy test procedure


  1. Urine applied to application area

  2. Any hCG binds to antibody on beads

  3. Urine moves up test strip, carrying beads

  4. Test strip has antibodies to hCG immobilised

  5. If hCG present, test strip turns blue as immobilised antibody binds to hCG on beads

  6. If no hCG, beads pass through test area without binding
• The test strip turns blue if hCG is present, as the immobilised antibody binds to any hCG attached to the blue beads, concentrating the blue beads in that area