β-Hydroxybutyrate (β-HB) Colorimetric Assay Kit

Diabetic ketoacidosis occurs when circulating insulin levels drop to very low levels, shutting off the supply of glucose to the body. The physiological response is for the liver to produce ketone bodies (acetoacetate, acetone, and primarily β-hydroxybutyrate) from the acetyl CoA produced from fatty acid oxidation. The very high rate of ketone body production outstrips the body’s ability to utilize them as an energy source and the blood concentration builds up. As rather strong acids, they result in a significant drop in blood pH. BioVision’s β-HB Assay kit utilizes β-HB Dehydrogenase to generate a product which reacts with our colorimetric probe with an absorbance band at 450 nm. The kit is an easy and accurate assay to measure β-HB levels in biological samples. The assay is linear for 1-20 nmol β-HB in up to 100 µl samples or 0.01-0.2 mM of β-HB samples.