Vitamin B12 (cobalamin) is an essential nutrient required for red blood cell formation, neurological development, DNA synthesis, and mucosal regeneration. Found in food in both free and protein-bound forms, vitamin B12 is released during digestion and absorbed in the distal ileum through a complex process involving intrinsic factor, a protein produced by gastric parietal cells. Once absorbed, cobalamin binds to transcobalamin II for transport throughout the body. Together with folic acid, vitamin B12 is also critical for homocysteine metabolism, making it important for cardiovascular and neurological health.
Vitamin B12 deficiency typically results from malabsorption rather than inadequate dietary intake, except in individuals with vegan diets or severe malnutrition. Conditions such as gastritis, celiac disease, Crohn’s disease, pancreatic insufficiency, gastric surgery, and intrinsic factor deficiency (as in pernicious anemia) can impair absorption. Deficiency symptoms include fatigue, pallor, palpitations, jaundice, neuropathy, and cognitive disturbances. Clinically, measuring vitamin B12 is essential in evaluating megaloblastic anemia, peripheral neuropathies, hyperhomocysteinemia, and malabsorptive disorders, as well as in monitoring elderly patients, dialysis patients, pregnant individuals, and those with chronic liver or kidney disease.
The Vitamin B12 test kit uses a microbiological assay in which Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. lactis grows in response to available vitamin B12. After incubation, turbidity is measured with an ELISA reader and compared to a standard curve, with bacterial growth directly proportional to vitamin B12 concentration. This assay provides a reliable and sensitive method for assessing total vitamin B12 levels in serum for both clinical diagnostics and research applications.
This product is manufactured in USA by Immundiagnostik AG.
