Preparation of iodine-125-labeled insulin for radioimmunoassay: comparison of lactoperoxidase and chloramine-T iodination.

The enzymatic radioiodination of porcine insulin by a system consisting of lactoperoxidase, hydrogen peroxide, and Na125I was compared with a modified chloramine-T technique. Satisfactory specific activity of the labeled hormone was obtained with the enzymatic iodination, with much greater immunoreactivity and stability than after chloramine-T, besides being quite suitable for the measurement of low plasma insulin levels. There was a positive and highly significant correlation between the insulin concentrations measured with the two tracers, with the regression line defined by the equation: y (chloramine-T) = 8.34 + 0.99 x (lactoperoxidase).