An assessment of radioimmunoassay procedures for determination of anti-acetylcholine receptor antibodies in the sera of patients with myasthenia gravis.
A reproducible radioimmunoassay procedure for the determination of anti-acetylcholine receptor antibodies in the sera of patients with myasthenia gravis is described and examined in detail. The assay combines features of a number of methods previously outlined and allows repeat determinations of antibody titre in a given myasthenic serum sample with coefficient of variation 6%. The mean +/- standard deviation for normal human serum anti-acetylcholine receptor antibodies was found by this procedure to be 0.024 +/- 0.033 nmol/l alpha-bungarotoxin binding sites whereas the range for myasthenic patients was 0-139.14 nmol/l with a mean value of 7.55 nmol/l alpha-bungarotoxin binding sites.
D000109:Acetylcholine / Q000378:metabolism*; D000368:Aged; D000906:Antibodies / Q000032:analysis; D002038:Bungarotoxins / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009132:Muscles / Q000378:metabolism; D009157:Myasthenia Gravis / Q000276:immunology*; D011863:Radioimmunoassay / Q000379:methods; D011950:Receptors, Cholinergic / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D012016:Reference Values
D000906:Antibodies; D002038:Bungarotoxins; D011950:Receptors, Cholinergic; D000109:Acetylcholine