Capillary electrophoresis enzyme immunoassay for alpha-fetoprotein and thyroxine in human serum with electrochemical detection.

A novel CE-based enzyme immunoassay (CE-EIA) method was developed in o-aminophenol (OAP)-H(2)O(2)-horseradish peroxidase (HRP) system and applied to benign liver disease and hyperthyroidism research in the clinical practical field. In the presented method, after the enzyme immunoreaction, the HRP-labeled antibody or HRP-labeled antigen catalyzed the enzyme substrate OAP and H(2)O(2). The product of the enzymatic catalysis reaction 2-aminophenoxazine-3-one (AP) was determined using electrochemical detection on a Pt electrode at the outlet of the reaction capillary. Factors influencing the performance, including running buffer concentration, separation, and detection voltage, were investigated to the optimum conditions. Noncompetitive and competitive models were utilized to detect alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) and thyroxine (T(4)) in human sera, respectively. The linear ranges and the detection limits (S/N = 3) were from 1.5 to 66.6 ng/mL and 0.48 ng/mL for AFP, and from 1.7 to 260.0 ng/mL and 1.0 ng/mL for T(4). The results of this method were linear proportional to those of spectrophotometric ELISA method, giving a good prospect for a new clinical diagnostic instrument.