Immune complex transfer two-site chemiluminescent immunoassay for serum growth hormone in alevin chum salmon

An immune complex transfer two-site chemiluminescent immunoassay (CLIA) for salmon growth hormone (GH) was developed to measure serum GH in alevin chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta) using a chemiluminescent acridinium ester as a label. The immune complex transfer method dramatically reduced non-specifically bound of acridinium ester labelled antibody without a decrease in the specific binding. Consequently, we could detect lower levels of GH than achieved previously in a two-site CLIA for salmon GH. The detection limit of the assay was 7.8 fg/ml and the standard curve was linear up to 250 fg/ml. Coefficients of variation were 2.2-7.7% within-assay and 5.3-91% between-assay. We have developed a highly sensitive and reproducible GH method and applied it to measurement of GH in alevin chum salmon.