An assay for urinary estriol-16 alpha-glucuronide based on antibody-enhanced chemiluminescence.

ABSTRACT

PIP: An immunoassay for estriol-16 alpha-glucuronide in urine, for pregnancy determinations, that uses antibody-enhanced chemiluminescence is described. Glucuronide was convalently conjugated with amino butyl-ethyl-isoluminol, a chemiluminescent marker. A specific antibody was used to augment the light yield of this conjugate upon oxidation, and this effect was inhibited by addition of the monologous steroid glucuronide (10-100 pgm) dose-dependently. The assay does not require separation of bound and free ligand, and its sensitivity, precision, and accuracy were satisfactory. Good agreement was found between assay results obtained by radioimmunoassay and the chemiliminescence immunoassay (r=.98; n=25).