Automated radioimmunoassay of choriomammotropin (human placental lactogen)

We describe a totally automated procedure for radioimmunoassay of choriomammotropin, in which all phases of the assay are automated in a single system ("Centria"). This system permits the simultaneous incubation and separation of many samples in a nonequilibrium assay, and measurements are obtained in less than 30 min. Results for clinical samples by reference radioimmunossay methodology and with the Centria system compared uniformly well: y=0.91x - 0.87;r=0.94. The coefficient of variation for samples run in duplicate on the same day was 5.2%, 7.4% for samples run on different days. The specificity, sensitivity, simplicity, and speed of this system makes it a useful new tool for kinetic, nonequilibrium immunoassay.