Forensic immunochemistry

Immunoassay has been established with polyclonal or monoclonal antibody even for a low molecular weight compound which has no antigenicity. In spite of the cross-reactivities of an antibody and also the difficulty in identification of the compound, an immunoassay is a useful method of choice for the detection of the compound in biological fluids because of the pretreatment simplicity and ability to treat many samples in a short time. Therefore, immunoassay has been established as a sensitive analytical and screening method for use in forensic sciences. In our laboratory, a radioimmunoassay (RIA) and an enzyme immunoassay (EIA) for phenobarbital, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) and latex agglutination inhibition reaction tests (LAIRT) for methamphetamine, benzoylecgonine and morphine have been established. These assays are described in addition to the two commercially available immunoassay kits, enzyme multiplied immunoassay technique (EMIT; Syva Co., USA) and Triage Biosite Piagnostics, Inc, USA.