Analytical Aspects of Some Anaesthesiologically Important Peptide Hormones

Abstract

Radio-immunoassays (RIA) are extremely sensitive methods for the radio-immunochemical determination of hormones in biological fluids. However, the need for alternative immunochemical techniques continues and has led to the development of, e.g., fluorescent immunoassays (FIA) (Ullmann et al. 1976; Borner 1981), enzyme immunoassays (EIA) (Van Weemen et al. 1971; Rubenstein et al. 1972), and zone immunoelectrophoresis assays (ZIA) (Vesterberg 1980). Electrophoretic work in this field depends on the interaction of the hormone with a precipitating agent and the visualization of the precipitate. The present work deals with the observation that in the case of β-endorphin and arginine-8-vasopressin in agarose gels containing antisera, special buffers and an optical brightener, it is possible to develop peaks and to visualize them by ultraviolet radiation using one- and two-dimensional techniques.