All the DetectX® kits for Cyclic Nucleotides (cAMP, K019-H and K019-C, and cGMP, K020-H and K019-C) are supplied with reagents that can be used to acetylate standards and samples. The specific antibodies in these kits are more reactive to nucleotides that have been acetylated, so treating samples this way will allow for a more sensitive measurement of cAMP or cGMP. There are a couple things to note about acetylating, however. First, the acetylating reagents will cause proteins and lipids in the samples to precipitate. Only samples that have been diluted to the concentration which will be used in the assay should be treated. Second, acetylation does add another step to the process. In general, we recommend testing samples initially without acetylating. The regular assays are very sensitive, and most samples can be analyzed without the additional step. If the concentration of your samples is too low, or if they need to be diluted very far to eliminate matrix interference, then acetylation can be a useful tool for getting good results from the assay.
