A microparticle enhanced nephelometric immunoassay (Nephelia) applied to thymulin measurement

This article describes a microparticle enhanced nephelometric immunoassay (Nephelia) applied to the quantification of the thymic peptide hormone thymulin. Nephelia uses antibody recognition by the antithymulin antiserum in a competitive reaction between free thymulin and thymulin bound to the microspheres. The binding between microsphere and thymulin is achieved with the aid of a protein carrier. The sensitivity of the competitive reaction varied with the protein carrier and the antiserum sample. The most efficient reaction was obtained with the thymulin-metallothionein-microsphere conjugates; as little as 5 pg/ml of thymulin could be detected. In adult human serum or in its ultra-filtrate, spiked synthetic thymulin was totally recovered. Measurement of thymulin in serum or ultra-filtrate samples demonstrated the presence of interference from molecules in the serum. Nephelia led to the same conclusions as those reported with other methods and performs as well, and is more simple to use than radio- or enzymo-immunoassays for thymulin measurement.