Radioimmunoassay for melatonin and its application to fowl pineal research

Abstract

A radioimmunoassay for melatonin has been developed after raising anti-melatonin antibodies in rabbit.Melatonin was extracted from serum or pineal gland of chickens (Gallus domesticus).The radioimmunoassay was performed by using 3H-melatonin as tracer.The standard curve covered the range 0.022-0.345 pmol/vial and the KD value for melatonin was estimated at 1.37 x 10(10) l/mol.The antiserum specificity has been analysed, none of the common melatonin analogues influencing this method of melatonin measurement.The intra-assay variability was 7.2% for serum samples and 8.6% for pineal extract.The inter-assay variability for this biological sample was 15.3% and 6.4% respectively.