[Methods of quantitating gonadotropins and ovarian steroids]

The immunochemical methods take a preponderant place in the measurement of gonadotropins and ovarian steroids. If the sandwich methods for the ELISA type are almost exclusively used for peptide hormones, the measurement of steroid hormones are necessarily performed by a competition technique. The relatively easy preparation of polyclonal and monoclonal anti-gonadotropin antibodies leads to antibodies with a good specificity for these hormones whereas the anti-steroid, specially monoclonal antibodies, are much more difficult to obtain. The different labeling possibilities used in the detection of the antigen-antibody complex, the quality of existing standards and the immunoassay's reliability are successfully discussed.