TNF-alpha (Tumor Necrosis Factor alpha), also termed Cachectin, Cytotoxic Factor (CF), Hemorrhagic Factor, Macrophage Cytotoxic Factor (MCF), is a potent multifunctional cytokine which can exert regulatory, inflammatory and cytotoxic effects on a wide range of normal lymphoid, non-lymphoid cells and tumor cells. TNF-alpha is secreted by macrophages, monocytes, neutrophils, T-cells, NK-cells, and many transformed cell lines. It exists as a soluble 17.5 kD protein and a 26 kD membrane-associated protein. The soluble form protein derives from the membrane form by proteolytic processing. Dephosphorylation of the membrane form occurs by binding to soluble TNFRSF1A/TNFR1. TNF-alpha binding to surface receptors elicits a wide array of biologic activities including: cytolysis and cytostasis of many tumor cell lines in vitro, hemorrhagic necrosis of tumors in vivo, increased fibroblast proliferation, and enhanced chemotaxis and phagocytosis in neutrophils. It has been shown that TNF-alpha plays a critical role in many physiological and pathological conditions, including neurodegenerative diseases and cancer. This kit is specifically designed to meet the increasing usage of rat models in biomedical studies due to larger sampling sizes, and the fact that rats have higher tolerance in chemotherapy, etc. BioLegend’s Rat TNF-alpha LEGEND MAX(TM) ELISA kit is a Sandwich Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) with 96 well microtiter strip plates that are pre-coated with a capture antibody. This ELISA kit is specifically designed for the accurate quantitation of Rat TNF-alpha from cell culture supernatant, serum, plasma or other biological fluids. This kit is analytically validated with ready-to-use reagents.