A new technique for the measurement of urinary 6-keto-prostaglandin F1 alpha: normal values in adults.

A new sensitive and specific radioimmunoassay for measurement of urinary 6-keto-prostaglandin F1 alpha is described. In this technique, 6-keto-prostaglandin F1 alpha was first extracted and separated from prostaglandins F2 alpha, F1 alpha, E2, E1, A2 and A1 by using an original high performance liquid chromatographic method with an overall recovery of 74.4 +/- 0.9%. The radioimmunoassay used a highly specific antibody raised in the rabbit. The sensitivity of the method was 1.8 pg. Between-assay reproducibility was at 7.7%. As previously reported for prostaglandins E and F alpha, the urinary excretion of 6-keto-prostaglandin F1 alpha, measured in 28 healthy adult subjects, was found to be significantly (p less than 0.001) higher in men (319 +/- 21 ng/24 h) than in women (190 +/- 14 ng/24 h). The chromatographic separation method described here could also be applied to the radioimmunoassay of other primary prostaglandins.