Development of an immunoassay for glypressin, an N-terminal extended vasopressin analogue.

The development and evaluation of a radioimmunoassay for N alpha-tri-glycyl-lysine8-vasopressin is described. The site of hapten conjugation of the immunogen has been controlled and the use of various radiolabelled tracers has been evaluated with special reference to the site of iodination. The most extensively studied antiserum showed specificity for the N-terminal triglycyl-extension as well as for several amino acid residues of the vasopressin ring. It crossreacted 27%, 28%, and 0.3% with Lys8-vasopressin, arg8-vasopressin and oxytocin respectively, and it was used to quantify triglycyl-lysine8-vasopressin in human plasma after SepPak C18 extraction. The sensitivity of the assay was 5 pg/tube with an intra-assay CV of 5-6% at 17 and 70 pg/tube. The identity of the immunoreactivity was studied by reversed phase chromatography.