title: Comparison of an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) with a radioimmunoassay (RIA) for the measurement of rat insulin.
abstract: A recently developed competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was compared with a conventional competitive radioimmunoassay (RIA) for the measurement of rat insulin in culture medium. Fifty-six samples were analysed by both assays. There was a correlation coefficient of r = 0.783 between results obtained using the two assay systems. The binding curves of the two assays were differently shaped, so that the ELISA gave good reproducibility over the concentration range 5-50 microU/ml insulin with inter- and intra-assay coefficients of variation less than 14%, but poor reproducibility at higher concentrations. Conversely, the RIA showed excellent reproducibility at concentrations greater than 50 microU/ml insulin, but poor sensitivity and high coefficients of variation below this level. The ELISA procedure offers practical advantages over the RIA, and performs well when measuring physiological concentrations of insulin.
authors.affiliation: Endocrine Section, Medicine II, Southampton General Hospital, U.K.
authors.forename: H V
authors.initials: HV
authors.lastname: Webster
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Bone
authors.forename: K A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Webster
authors.forename: T J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Wilkin
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003470:Culture Media / Q000032:analysis; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000379:methods*; D007328:Insulin / Q000032:analysis*; D007515:Islets of Langerhans / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D011863:Radioimmunoassay / Q000379:methods*; D051381:Rats; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D003470:Culture Media; D007328:Insulin