Troponin I TEST

Troponin I is a regulatory protein part of the troponin com- plex which plays a vital part in non smooth muscle contrac- tion (skeletal and cardiac).

The cardiac isoform of troponin-I (cTnI) is only expressed in cardiac muscle. Cardiac Troponin I is principally trapped within cardiac muscle cells (although minute amount of tro- ponin is present in the blood stream in regular healthy state) and the leakage (release) of high amounts of cardiac tro- ponin in the blood stream indicates cardiac injury.

Elavated cTnI levels are now widley considered as the stand- ard biochemical marker for the diagnosis of myocardial in- farction (commonly known as heart attack), a deadly med- ical emergency charachtrized by heart muscle cells death due to loss of oxygen reaching the heart.

The release of Tropinin I into the blood stream starts 4-6 hours after cardiac injury and remains high for up to 2 weeks thus providing for a long window of detection for cardiac injury as well as monitering already exisiting heart conditions.